IAS officer fined Rs 1.63 crore for ‘unauthorised stay’ in Delhi bungalow | Why she didnt vacate premises
Durga Shakti Nagpal was allotted the bungalow in March 2015 after she was appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to then Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh. However, she did not vacate the bungalow for years, even after her deputation at the Agriculture Ministry ended in May 2019.
New Delhi: An IAS officer has been slapped with a fine of Rs 1.63 crore over "unauthorised stay" in government bungalow in Delhi. Durga Shakti Nagpal, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been issued notices by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), which comes under the Union Agriculture Ministry.
The IARI imposed the hefty penalty on the IAS officer for what it terms her "unauthorised occupation” of an official bungalow on its Pusa campus in Delhi from May 2022 to February 2025. The IAS officer said that she had requested for extensions due to some medical reasons involving her parents. She also sought a waiver of the damage charges, saying they are "notional and impractical".
When was Durga Shakti allotted bungalow?
Nagpal was allotted the bungalow in March 2015 after she was appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to then Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh. However, she did not vacate the bungalow for years, even after her deputation at the Agriculture Ministry ended in May 2019.
Nagpal continued to stay in the government residence even during her later postings in the Commerce Ministry and her return to the Uttar Pradesh cadre in 2021 while paying a monthly rent of Rs 6,600 and water charges. She left the bungalow in February 2025 after IARI lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police.
Why did Druga Shakti not vacate bungalow?
The IAS officer said that she did not leave the bungalow as her parents' were not well. She said that her father’s bypass surgery and mother’s knee replacement surgery were reasons for delaying her move out of the premises.
"I had requested the Ministry for extension, which was allowed, and I have paid the rent for the same and subsequently vacated the house. Still, due to some lack of paperwork they added compounding penal charges which are notional and impractical," she said, adding that she had also deposited the outstanding licence fee of Rs 88,610 for the period
from May 2015 to April 2022.
Who is IAS officer Durga Shakti?
A 2010-batch IAS officer, Nagpal is presently posted as the District Magistrate of Lakhimpur Kheri. The IAF officer was in the headlines in 2013 for her crackdown on illegal sand mining which led to her suspension by the then Akhilesh Yadav-led UP government. Her suspension was later revoked.
