``This is a clear signal from the Prime Minister's Office to stop Kaur's relocation,'' says an irate officer in the Ministry, ``It is yet another case of appeasement.'' According to the officer, investigations reveal that the former President's wife does not even reside in the official bungalow, but lives in her native town in Punjab.

Instead, the official bungalow is occupied by her successful, exporter grandson-in-law Gurinderjit Singh and his family. ``Gurinderjit Singh came and raked up the minority issue with our minister (Ram Jethmalani) saying that he was being targetted because he was a Sikh. While it did not work with Jethmalani, he definitely found sympathetic ears in the Government,'' says the officer.

Trouble began in February, 1995 itself when the Directorate of Estates began the process of eviction, as it was discovered that Pradhan Kaur had no legitimate right to continue to live in the bungalow after the demise of her husband. According to allotment rules, wives of deceased Presidents can occupy only Type VII houses. Her present residence is a Type VIII bungalow. While it took three years for the process to be completed, orders to vacate the bungalow were finally issued in January this year.

It grabbed media attention because the Urban Affairs Ministry simultaneously allotted the house to the new Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit. The latter is officially entitled to a Type VIII bungalow and since eviction orders had been served to the Singh family, their house was made to order for the Chief Minister's official residence.

For years the Directorate of Estates has had a difficult time trying to get back government bungalows from former Presidents, Prime Ministers, MPs, and powerful bureaucrats. After all, an address in Lutyen's Delhi is the envy of every aspiring citizen, with its tree-lined boulevards, acres of rolling gardens and a heritage house.

The ensuing battles have pushed the courts to intervene, as a last resort to resolve the situation. But more often than not, the Directorate has had to back off. If the incumbent has died, families have cleverly turned the official residence into a memorial so as to keep the house within their grip. Former Prime Ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri and Charan Singh are a case in point. After their spouses also passed away, the bungalows should have moved back to the Directorate, but they are now memorials to the departed leaders. So are the homes of Indira Gandhi and Jagjivan Ram.

Pradhan Kaur may have reason to feel belittled, for Abida Ahmed, wife of former President Fakkruddin Ahmed, continues to reside in her Type VIII bungalow, even after her husband's death. Officials in the Directorate of Estates say they have no information on Ahmed. Even former prime ministers, who are entitled to only a Type VII bungalow, unless they are sitting MPs (then they have a Type VIII house like I.K. Gujral), have upgraded themselves to Type VIII with a CCA order.

So, leaders like Charan Singh, V.P. Singh, Narasimha Rao and even Sonia Gandhi (for security reasons), have all moved to occupy bigger houses. ``There is a scramble for Type VIII bungalows because they have office space, like a separate chamber for the minister, another chamber for the secretary and attached toilets, all separate from the living quarters of the house so that you don't have visitors trampling in your drawing room,'' an official explains.