Srinagar quarter allotted to MLA Handwara; evictions at some more Ministerial bungalows on cards
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
JAMMU: 6 February 2025: The National Conference government has allotted an MLA’s accommodation to the Peoples Conference legislator Sajad Lone and asked him to immediately vacate a Ministerial bungalow which has been in his possession at Church Lane, Sonwar, in Srinagar, in the last nearly 10 years.
Lone, who was elected as PC’s MLA from Handwara in 2014 functioned as a Minister in the BJP-PDP government for about four years. He ceased to be a Ministerial when Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was left with no option but to resign after the BJP withdrew support from her government in June 2018.
In December 2019, Lone also ceased to exist as MLA when Governor Satya Pal Malik refused to entertain his claim of forming a government with the support of some MLAs and dissolved the Assembly.
While a number of the former Ministers and MLAs either vacated the official accommodations voluntarily or were forced to vacate the same under the new LG regime or J&K High Court’s orders, Lone and a number of the BJP Ministers and MLAs retained their previously allotted Ministerial bungalows.
A Public Interest Litigation assiduously pursued by the Jammu-based lawyer and activist Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad built considerable pressure on the LG administration and a number of the former Ministers and MLAs were forced to clear out their accommodations.
Some of them, as also the authorities, argued in the petitions that some of the former public persons were required to be accommodated in safe houses due to their threat perception. However, the courts were averse to clubbing the threat perception and security with the entitlement of the political persons.
Even as senior BJP leaders like the former Deputy Chief Ministers Dr Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta vacated their Ministerial accommodations voluntarily, a number of the former Ministers and MLA like Choudhary Lal Singh were evicted forcibly.
Late last year, the LG’s administration ordered the eviction of the former Mayor of Srinagar Junaid Azim Mattu. However, he got the order stayed by the J&K High Court. Sources said that the Omar Abdullah government has decided to get all such stay orders vacated to remove the so-called unauthorised occupants from the Ministerial bungalows.
On 31 January, Financial Commissioner Estates Shaleen Kabra issued Government Order No: 08-Est(KMR) of 2025 and allotted Government Quarter No: J-64 at Jawahar Nagar, Srinagar, to Sajad Lone who was also elected as MLA from Handwara in the Assembly elections of 2024. The new premises have been allotted to the MLA in lieu of Ministerial Bungalow No: VIP-04, at Church Lane in Sonwar, Srinagar.
Sources said that the Omar Abdullah government had also started reviewing the allotments of over a hundred occupants who had been allotted such premises on the discretionary powers of the Governor/ Lieutenant Governor in the last 6 years. After the taking over of the political government, the discretionary powers have shifted to the Chief Minister.
Sources said that over 30 of such accommodations have been occupied by different persons simply on the “verbal orders” of unknown officers. The process of vacating all such premises has already started, said an official.
