Mehbooba Mufti goes house-hunting after getting notice to vacate

But now, with Mehbooba holding no Constitutional post, the administration wants her to vacate the house. On October 15, she was handed a notice by the Estates Department of the Union Territory asking her to vacate the house. A second notice, sent 10 days later, said she was an “unauthorised occupant” and was “no longer entitled to retain the government accommodation in the capacity of ex-chief minister”, and gave her time until November 15 to move out.

While Mehbooba tried to argue that the Gupkar Road accommodation had been provided to her on security grounds, not as the designated residence of the chief minister, the administration turned down her argument, saying it didn’t hold since the government was willing to provide her an alternative accommodation.

With that began the search for a suitable house for the former CM.

While Mehbooba has so far turned down at least one house that the administration has offered her, a VIP bungalow at M5, Tulsibagh, that she visited last Saturday, the house she has expressed interest in, her sister’s six-bedroom house in Khimber, about 25 km from Gupkar Road, is yet to be cleared for security arrangements.

Mufti’s family home at Nowgam, on the outskirts of Srinagar, has already been ruled out by her since her extended family members live there.

A party spokesperson said the VIP bungalow allotted to Mufti was “dilapidated” and “unsuitable” due to the number of visitors she receives as PDP chief.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Mehbooba said, “I’ll be moving to my sister’s house. She lives abroad. We don’t have many options. There was a lack of privacy at the house that they had shown us in Tulsibagh. It was also not in a good shape, so we decided not to take it.”

Located in a secluded area in Northeast of Srinagar, the six-bedroom bungalow at Khimber has been built on a 0.75-acre plot with a lawn and a low boundary wall around the house.

She added that the security arrangements at the new location (at Khimber) had not been discussed with her as yet. Sources in the J&K Police said that “concerns about threat perception at the location are being reviewed internally”.