Jantar Mantar bungalow never alloted to Agnivesh, NGO: Centre to HC

The Centre has informed the Delhi High Court that its records show a bungalow on Jantar Mantar Road in the heart of the national capital was allotted to the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Smarak Trust and was not allocated to either activist Swami Agnivesh or his NGO.

The response of the Ministry of Urban Development to a query under the Right to Information Act said the records suggested that as on April 30, 1977, bungalow number 7 at the Jantar Mantar Road was in the name of the trust.

"As per records the property is not allocated to Bandhua Mukti Morcha at any point of time. As per the records, the property was not allocated to Swami Agnivesh in the past," the ministry said.

The RTI response said that there was no complaint with regard to the property during the 2010-2015 period.

"No such complaint indicating illegal possession and misuse is found in the records of property no. 7, Jantar Mantar Road, New Delhi," it said.

The RTI reply was referred to before a bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru which was hearing a plea filed by activist Ajay Gautam against an October 2016 order of the Central Information Commission (CIC).

The CIC had denied him the information sought on the ground he was not a lessee of the property.

Agnivesh, however, said that his NGO Bandhua Mukti Morcha is operating from the bungalow.

The court considered the response of the Centre and disposed of the plea of Gautam.

Gautam, in an RTI application, had sought information whether the bungalow was ever alloted to Bandhua Mukti Morcha or its national president Agnivesh.

The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), Land and Development of Delhi had failed to provide the information, according to him.