Ex-UP ministers involved in NRHM scam served eviction notice

Six days after he dared to sound the bugle of revolt against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, former UP minister for family welfare and mines, Babu Singh Kushwaha, was served a notice of eviction from the ministerial bungalow he has been occupying in Lucknow.

Kushwaha had stepped down from the minister's chair way back in April, apparently on "moral grounds", after the exposure of a multi-crore scam in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), which even led to the murder of two chief medical officers. Kushwaha had, however, continued to occupy his official residence.

The eviction notice was also served on health minister Anant Kumar Mishra, who had also resigned along with Kushwaha on the same plea.

While confirming the notices, a senior government spokesman said, "The rules do not permit occupation of a government accommodation beyond 15 days of abdication of office by a public servant. However, in these two cases, the ministers held on to their official bungalows for more than seven months now."

Known for her ruthless style of functioning, the four-time UP chief minister was known to have ordered unceremonious eviction of a chief secretary because he crossed the 15-day limit during her second stint in office.

Significantly, the top bureaucrat was still in service and bounced back as chief secretary shortly after the fall of the then short-lived Mayawati government.