Punjab and Haryana HC asks Naveen Jindal's mother to vacate govt house

ANI

Chandigarh, April 27 (ANI): The Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked one of India's wealthiest women, Savitri Jindal, to vacate her government accommodation, which she has been occupying illegally for over three years now, within the next 15 days. Savitri Jindal is the mother of Kurukshetra Congress Member of Parliament and businessman Naveen Jindal. She had topped Forbes magazine's list of richest Indian women in 2012 with a net worth of 8,200 million dollars. The state high court has also ordered that if Savitri does not vacate the premises within the next 15 days, eviction proceedings will be started against her and completed within six months. Savitri Jindal, a Congress MLA from Hisar, was allotted the palatial government house in Chandigarh's Sector 7 in 2005, when she was a cabinet minister. However, she did not leave the accommodation after losing her cabinet berth in 2009 and has overstayed for over three years. The directions to initiate the eviction proceedings against the former minister under Public Premises (Eviction of Un-authorized Occupants) Act, 1971, were given by acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice R.K. Jain while hearing a petition filed against the illegal and forcible occupation of houses by some VVIPs. Savitri Jindal also owes Rs.90 lakh as penal rent for staying in the house from November 22, 2009 till date. The penal rent was calculated by the Haryana Government and presented before the two judge bench of the high court during a hearing of the case. The matter had reached the HC in December 2012 through a petition filed by Chandigarh-based lawyer Surinder Pal Singh Tinna. (ANi with inputs)