[HumJanenge] IESM's RTI "tent pegs" "C-I-C's retirement home stolen from war widows

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_presidents-4498-sq-ft-retirement-home-is-spread-over-2-lakh-sq-ft_1657085

C-I-C == Commander In Chief

President's 4,498 sq ft retirement home is spread over 2 lakh sq ft

Although the former president of India is entitled to live in a house
admeasuring not more than 4,498 sq ft, land admeasuring 2,61,000 sq ft
has been allotted for the post-retirement accommodation in Khadki of
president Pratibha Patil.

Justice for Jawans (JFJ) Right to Information (RTI) activist Anup
Awasthi and Indian Ex-servicemen Movement (IESM) found the facts
through an RTI query.

According to the reply to the RTI requisition sent to the President of
India Office, the President's Emoluments and Pension Act, 1951, and
the rules framed there under President's Pension Rule, 1962, govern
these matters.

As per the rules, "A place where Government owned accommodation is
allotted to a retired President, the size of the residence shall be
comparable to a residence allotted to a Minister in the Union Council
of Ministers and if the highest type of Government residence available
at a particular place is less in size than a residence allotted to a
Minister in the Union Council of Ministers, the highest type of
accommodation available at that place shall be allotted to the ex-
President. At present, a minister is entitled to a plinth area of the
bungalow as 4498 sq ft."

The RTI reply further states, "where suitable Government residence is
not available for allotment to a retired President, the size of the
residence to be taken on lease to be provided to a retired President
shall have a living area not exceeding 2,000 sq ft."

Col (retd) Suresh Patil of JFJ had earlier written a letter on
September 14 to the president inquiring about the possession of the
property in Khadki to which the reply received was that the land is on
lease and will remain the property of Defence Estates.

According to the reply sent by the president's secretariat, "The old
grant property is a defence land given on lease and the lease has
expired. It was resumed by the defence estate officer after following
the due procedure for use of residential premises for the president on
her retirement as per the entitlement of a former president of India."

Patil and his associates objected to even the ongoing construction on
the land. "Why are new constructions carried out in the land when
there is adequate government accommodation already available in the
cantonments? These constructions are illegal which has also resulted
to the felling of trees in the area without the permission of the
forest department," Awasthi said.

IESM, Maharashtra convenor Ravindra Pathak said that this land should
have been allotted to the war widows and to build an old age home.