Delhi HC directs DJB ex-CEO to vacate Jal Vihar bungalow

Udit Prakash Rai allegedly demolished a 15th century monument at Jal Vihar in southeast Delhi to build a new government accommodation in its place, to move in as the then CEO of Delhi Jal Board

The Delhi high court on Wednesday directed suspended Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Udit Prakash Rai and his family to vacate his official bungalow in Delhi and asked the concerned authorities to allot him an alternative accommodation.

Delhi high court (HT FILE)

Rai, a 2007-batch officer currently serving as a secretary with the Mizoram government, has been in the eye of a storm for allegedly demolishing a 15th century monument at Jal Vihar in southeast Delhi to build a new government accommodation in its place, to move in as the then CEO of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) suspended him on Monday.

Rai was allotted the bungalow in Jal Vihar when he was the DJB CEO between October 18, 2021 and May 31, 2022. His wife Shilpi Udit Rai, who is residing in the bungalow along with children, had approached the high court with a petition challenging a July 28 notice issued by DJB, asking them to vacate the premises within 15 days.

Justice Prateek Jalan asked whether the officer has a right to retain the accommodation once he has been transferred out of the city. To this, the petitioner’s counsel said Mizoram is a “hard posting” due to which Rai, a 2007 IAS batch officer, is entitled to retain the government premises in Delhi.

Delhi government standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi, and the lawyers for DJB and the Delhi chief secretary did not contest that Rai is entitled to a government accommodation in Delhi despite his posting in Mizoram.

The judge made it clear that the petitioner has to move out of the house and added, “how a DJB house can be handed over to a person who has demitted the office of DJB. That DJB has to answer.”

The petitioner’s counsel submitted they will make a representation to the principal secretary of the Public Works Department (PWD) within a week for allotment of a house in accordance with the applicable rules.

Justice Jalan, after hearing the arguments, directed the PWD principal secretary to “dispose of the representation within two weeks thereafter by allotting an accommodation in accordance with rules”. The court also asked Rai’s wife to give an undertaking, signed by the couple, before it within a week, stating that they will vacate the Jal Vihar Bungalow.

It asked the petitioner’s counsel to inform the court about the date by when the bungalow will be vacated and disposed of the petition.

Earlier, on April 26, Delhi’s vigilance department issued a show cause notice to Rai for allegedly demolishing the monument, located in Jal Vihar near Lajpat Nagar, which finds a mention in the Archaeological Survey of India’s “List of Muhammadan and Hindu monuments” prepared in the 20th century.

The vigilance notice said that following a visit in January 2021, the department of archaeology wrote to DJB, seeking possession of the monument and a gateway for conservation. When the department returned to the site in January this year, it found that the monument had vanished.

Later in June, Rai filed a series of complaints, alleging that a “biased inquiry” was being conducted against him, and that his family was being subjected to harassment.