Meira Kumar gets to keep father's bungalow for 25 years

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will have access to the bungalow at 6, Krishna Menon Marg in Lutyens Delhi for at least another 25 years. It has been allotted to a foundation in her father and former deputy prime minister Babu Jagjivan Ram's name that was started on March 14, 2008.

It took the government a while but 6, Krishna Menon Marg was allotted by the Directorate of Estates (DoE) to 'Babu Jagjivan Ram National Foundation' on August 2, 2013 till July 1, 2038, according to the DoE's website e-Awas.

The last official occupant of the bungalow where Babu Jagjivan Ram lived for long till he died in 1986 was Kumar after she became Union minister in the UPA-1 government in 2004.

She became Lok Sabha Speaker in 2009 in the UPA-2 regime and moved to the Speaker's residence at 20, Akbar Road. But she continued to occupy the Krishna Menon Marg bungalow, according to records kept by CPWD which is responsible for maintenance of government property. Allotments are made by DoE, under the urban development ministry.

Between 2009 and 2013, DoE claimed there were no claimants for 6, Krishna Menon Marg while CPWD records acquired by RTI activist S C Agrawal show that it was allotted to Kumar, and a rent bill of Rs 1.98 crore was also sent to her. However, the government seems to have waived it, claiming it was sent under pressure of RTI.

On December 15, 2010, the Lok Sabha secretariat wrote to Agarwal, "Subhash Chandra Agarwal filed an RTI application dated 11.10.2010 which was received in this secretariat on 13.10.2010 and replied to by this secretariat on 10.11.2010."

On May 26, 2013, Agrawal wrote, "This bungalow has been continuously under 'authorized' or 'unauthorized' occupation of family members of late Babu Jagjivan Ramji ever since he expired in the year 1986... Different departments of MoUD speak in different tones about occupant of this prime government property. CPWD responds this bungalow is under occupation of Meira Kumar while DoE for last more than a decade records this bungalow as 'un-allotted'. Even a rent bill of Rs 1.98 crore issued in the name of Meira Kumar was immediately taken back as having been issued 'under RTI pressure'."