Rushdie can finally claim his gift

Sunday, July 27 1997

Rushdie can finally claim his gift

Ashwani Sharma

SHIMLA, July 26: At last some good news for celebrated Indian born British writer Salman Rushdie. The State government has had a change of heart and decided to waive Rs 1.54 lakh which deputy commissioner of Solan had proposed to recover from him as ``expenses'' for renovating his ancestral bungalow, ``Anis Villa''.

Highly placed sources told The Indian Express here that Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had advised the deputy commissioner to make out a case to the government for waiving the entire cost. New deputy commissioner B S Nainta is understood to have sent the relevant files to the government accordingly.

The sprawling Anis Villa, currently the official residence of the additional district magistrate of Solan, had been the bone of contention between Rushdie and the State government for over three years. Claiming that it was his ancestral property, and armed with a registered gift deed in his name, Rushdie had filed a case in the High Court to take over the property.

The matter, however, took a surprising turn when Srikant Baldi, then deputy commissioner, reversed the order passed by his predecessor Vineet Chaudhry and subsequently restored the property to Rushdie on the basis of the registered gift deed in his possession. Two other legal heirs had also supported his claim. The entry of the property has also now been changed in the name of Rushdie, though a final handing over is still pending.

Inquiries reveal that district authorities at Solan had estimated that the government had spent Rs 1.54 lakh on renovation and other building work at Anis Villa during the past two decades. And the former deputy commissioner had sent Rushdie a notice to that effect.

But because of the controversy it generated in the Press, the Chief Minister then took suo-motu action, and counselled the deputy commissioner to withdraw the notice and move a separate case for waiving the amount.When contacted, the deputy commissioner, Solan, confirmed this and said the property measuring three bighas of land, the heritage bungalow and the adjoining gardens would be handed over in a ``dignified way''.