Former J&K CM Mehbooba vacates ‘dilapidated’ official house, moves to private house on Srinagar outskirts 

She moved out of the official residence on Gupkar Road after the administration sent an eviction notice

Offered a “dilapidated” official accommodation, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday decided to shift to a private house on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Following an eviction notice issued by the Lieutenant-Governor’s administration, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader vacated her official residence, Fair View, located on Gupkar Road in Srinagar, after 18 years. The house has a forest range in the backdrop and the Dal lake nearby. 

“The official residence offered to us in Srinagar’s Tulsi Bagh area was unliveable and in dilapidated condition. We decided to shift to a close relative’s house in Khimber area. We have vacated the official residence,” a family member told The Hindu.

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Ms. Mufti’s father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who served as the Union Home Minister in the 1990s and the J&K Chief Minister in the 2000s, was allotted the accommodation in 2005.

The Lieutenant-Governor’s administration sent the eviction notice to Ms. Mufti in October this year. It said the legal provision under which ex-Chief Ministers were entitled to various facilities, including rent-free residential accommodation, was repealed by the government in 2020 after J&K was converted from a State into a Union Territory (UT).

The L-G administration had warned of action under Section (2) of Section 5 of the J&K Public Premises (Eviction of unauthorised occupants), 1988, in case Ms. Mufti and her family failed to leave the accommodation. Ms. Mufti was living with her mother and daughters in the official accommodation.