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SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmiradministration has asked former CM and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti to vacate the government bungalow she has been occupying for over a decade and a half, the second such notice to leave the sprawling premises in over two years.
The latest eviction notice issued on October 15 by the deputy director (J&K estates department) asking Mehbooba to vacate the “Fairview” bungalow on Gupkar Road — Srinagar’s VIP enclave — offers her “alternative accommodation on security or other grounds” if she so desires.
Mehbooba confirmed receiving the notice but has not decided yet whether to accept the offer of alternative accommodation. “The notice to evict from Fairview was served to me a few days ago. This has not come as a surprise and is along the expected lines,” Mehbooba said Friday.
Asked if she will challenge the notice in court, the PDP president said she would consult her legal team. “I do not own a place where I can stay. So I have to consult my legal team before taking a decision,” she added. Fairview was renovated in 2015 when Mehbooba’s father, the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, took over as CM with BJP support.
The UT administration had served eviction notices to other former CMs, too, in October 2020, a year after the Centre’s revocation of Articles 370 and 35-A in August 2019 that ended J&K’s special status and turned it into a Union territory.
Ghulam Nabi Azad and Omar Abdullah vacated their government bungalows in 2020. While Azad stayed at a J&K Bank guesthouse on Gupkar Road, Omar lived in House No.1 on the same street — a few blocks from father and ex-CM Farooq Abdullah’s home that he owns in his personal capacity.
The palatial Fairview was previously an interrogation centre during early 1990s used by BSF while fighting terrorism. However, then CM Farooq allotted the house to his chief secretary Ashok Jaitley, who refurbished it lavishly.
(With agency inputs)



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