Vacate official residences, Estates Deptt asks Ex-Ministers

Srinagar: The Estates department Thursday said that all former ministers who are staying in government accommodation will have to vacate as per the orders of the committee formed after High Court directions last year.

“All former ministers will have to vacate the accommodation provided by the Estates department,” sources in the Estates department told KNS.

The ex-ministers who have been served notices to evacuate official residences include NC’s Abdul Rahim Rather, Mir Saifullah, Javaid Dar, Nasir Aslam Wani, Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Congress’s Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Abdul Gani Waki and G A Mir.

The government during late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s rule had formed committee of eight members that was headed by the Additional Director General of Police, Security, and had SSPs and DCs of Jammu and Srinagar cities and the director estates as its members.

The committee was formed after the High court directions which came following the writ petition filed by some of the former ministers when they were asked by the government to vacate the official residences.

When contacted Director Estates Ghulam Nabi Itoo said the order of the committee to ask for evacuation was not implemented during previous government. “But when the Governor rule was imposed, the ordered was implemented and the Estates Department started issuing notices,” the director said.

He said that department has sent evacuation notices to all the former ministers as per the order issued during the Governor’s rule.

In this backdrop, the department issued evacuation notice to the JKPCC president G A Mir who vacated his official residence on Thursday at Friend’s Enclave a day before deadline which was set for April 15. (KNS)