HC allows Akhilesh to renovate his house at Vikramaditya Marg

The Allahabad High Court today allowed former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his MP wife Dimpal Yadav to renovate their bungalow at Vikramaditya Marg here but asked them not to make any structural changes in it.

A Lucknow bench also asked them not to make any new construction on the property at 1A, Vikramaditya Marg.

The bench of justices Vikram Nath and Abdul Moin gave the order on a plea by Yadav and his wife.

They had sought modification of the August 18 order of the court banning new constructions on properties in the high security areas in and around Vikramaditya Marg, Kalidas Marg and Gautam Palli in Lucknow.

Yadav and his wife had pleaded that their property at 1A, Vikramditya Marg, was a 'nazul' property recorded in the name of Ujjawala Ramnath from whom they had purchased it and subsequently got it converted to freehold.

The property includes a bungalow built in 1940, which had become inhabitable as it had been lying unoccupied since long.

Yadav said after he vacated his official residence, allotted to him as state chief minister, on the Supreme Court order, he and his wife had decided to renovate their bungalow at Vikramaditya Marg to use it as their residence.

Appearing for the Yadavs, senior advocate J N Mathur said his clients had sought permission from the Lucknow Development Authority to build a heritage hotel on the plot.

Mathur told the court that in the changed circumstances, they would withdraw their applications from the LDA and would not build any hotel on it.