Over A Year After Resignation, Jagdeep Dhankhar Still Without Official Retirement Home

More than a year after stepping down as vice-president, Jagdeep Dhankhar is still living in a private farmhouse in Delhi's Chhatarpur owned by Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala, according to Hindustan Times. Top-ranking officials told the publication that no government house has been allotted to him so far.

Dhankhar's office did not comment on whether any allotment had been proposed after he resigned. The unresolved housing position matters because a retired vice-president is entitled to an official residence for life under the rules governing pension, housing and other facilities.

The report also points to uncertainty inside the government system over whether Dhankhar sought an allotment through the formal channel. Officials in the housing and estates machinery said they were not aware of any such request.

Resignation Context

Dhankhar quit abruptly. He resigned late on July 21, 2025, hours after he admitted an Opposition-sponsored notice in the Rajya Sabha seeking a probe panel against former Delhi High Court judge, Justice Yashwant Varma. The Lok Sabha had also admitted a similar notice that had backing from all parties.

In his resignation letter to President Droupadi Murmu, Dhankhar wrote that he wanted to “prioritise health care and abide by medical advice”. Opposition leaders, however, alleged that he was forced to quit.

Retirement Entitlements

According to the vice-president's pension, housing and other facilities rules, “A retired vice-president shall be entitled without payment of rent to the use of furnished residence…at the station of his choice, anywhere in India, without payment of water and electricity charges for the remainder of his life. At places where government-owned accommodation is allotted to a retired vice-president, the residence shall be a Type-VIII bungalow, and if the highest type of government-owned accommodation available at a particular place is smaller in size as compared to a Type-VIII bungalow, the highest type of accommodation available at that place shall be allotted to the retired vice-president.”

The residence is drawn from the General Pool, or GPRA, stock under the special entitlement for former vice-presidents. Former vice-presidents have to file a request with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to obtain such accommodation.

If a former vice-president wants a residence at a place where a Type-VIII bungalow is unavailable, the person is entitled to the highest class of central government housing available there. If no government housing exists, the Centre can lease an accommodation with 2,000 sq ft of living area.

Previous Vice Presidents

M Venkaiah Naidu, Dhankhar's predecessor, demitted office on August 11, 2022. By October that year, he had shifted with his family to a bungalow at 1, Thyagraj Marg.

Former Union minister D Sadananda Gowda had earlier occupied that bungalow.

Interim Farmhouse Stay

Six weeks after retiring, Dhankhar moved to Chautala's farmhouse on September 1, 2025. Abhay Chautala is the son of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.

People close to Dhankhar told the publication the move was meant to be an interim arrangement. A year later, that arrangement is still in place. Dhankhar was also the first vice-president to live in the newly built vice-president enclave on Church Road.

Months after he retired, estates department officers had indicated that a Type-VIII bungalow was being kept ready for him, the report said. Hindustan Times reported that it sought comment from Union housing and urban affairs minister Manohar Lal Khattar but did not receive a response.

Officials in the ministry said the newly introduced secretariat of capital development had not been apprised of any request from Dhankhar. The secretariat now handles all aspects of Delhi's land and estate under the central government.

Officials in the directorate of estates, which handles day-to-day operations of general pool accommodation under MoHUA, said any request, if made, may have been initiated at the ministerial level and had not been conveyed to them. One official told the publication they were not sure whether Dhankhar had approached the directorate of estates.