Centre waives Meira Kumar's pending rent payment

CNN-IBN | 09-May 19:00 PM

New Delhi: A response to an RTI application revealed that Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar defaulted on a payment of Rs 2 crore. Is she a rent defaulter by not paying rent for a house at 6, Krishna Menon Marg in New Delhi? CNN-IBN has now got a copy of an RTI query filed by Subhash Agarwal which states that the government has now taken a position that the bill of Rs 1.98 crore issued against the Lok Sabha speaker stands withdrawn.

But this withdrawal comes after the estates department of the Urban Development ministry has taken consistently contradictory positions.

When this question was first raised if Meira Kumar had indeed not paid the rent for this house which was allotted initially in her father Jagjivan Ram's name, the department had said it has lost all the files related to this house.

After the subject became controversial, the ministry decided that Meira Kumar indeed had occupation of this house since 2004 and raised a bill of Rs 1.98 crore.

But there are several questions that still remain. What is the official status of bungalow number 6, Krishna Menon Marg? Is it a memorial or is it under occupation?

A Cabinet decision of 2000 states that the government can't build any memorials in Lutyen's Delhi. So what is the clarification offered by Meira Kumar which has led to a waiving of the rent?

The house was allotted to Meira Kumar's mother Indrani Devi for life after the demise of Babu Jagjivan Ram. Indrani Devi passed away in 2002. Who has been responsible for the maintenance since then?

Meira Kumar said, "There is no confusion, it is very simple. The government has simply withdrawn the circular."

The next part of this intriguing drama will play out 20 days later. That is when the CIC has asked all the concerned departments to present relevant papers related to the case.

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