PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti asked to vacate government quarter

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti has been served a notice to vacate the government quarter she is occupying in south Kashmir’s Anantnag District by the Jammu and Kashmir administration, officials said.

The notice was served to the former CM on Saturday to vacate quarter number 7 at Housing Colony Khanabal within 24 hours.
“You are asked to evict the quarter under reference within 24 hours failing which action warranted under law shall be taken against you,” read the notice by Deputy Commissioner Anantnag.

Earlier on October 20, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti had confirmed that she has been served a notice to vacate her Fairview residence – her official government accommodation in Srinagar.

According to the sources, Mufti has been offered an alternate bungalow in Srinagar.

Soon after the state was converted into a Union Territory in 2019, the guaranteed life-term perks to all former chief ministers of J-K were also withdrawn.

In 2020, two former CMs of Jammu and Kashmir – Omar Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad – had already left their official residences.

As Mufti’s father, late Muhammad Sayeed was the chief minister of J-K in 2005, she was living here since then, as unlike other states, J-K chief ministers were not obligated to vacate their government residence when their tenure ended or they were forced out of office.

Her former accommodation, Fairview Bunglow on Gupkar road, was previously an interrogation centre called PAPA-II and it served as an official guest house till 1989. It was named so after the Border Security Force occupied it in 1990.

According to reports, this centre was used regularly to conduct interrogations, until senior J-K bureaucrat Ashok Jaitly moved into it in 1996 and used it as his residence.