CWP NO.11235 of 2008 -1-
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH
CWP NO.11235 of 2008
Decided on : 06.11.2008
Pawan Kumar
....Petitioner
VERSUS
State of Haryana & others
....Respondents
CORAM:- HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE M. M. KUMAR
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE JORA SINGH
Present:- Mr. Pankaj Nanhera, Advocate
for the petitioner.
Mr. Ashish Kapoor, Addl. A. G., Haryana
for respondent No.1.
Mr. Sanjay Vashisht, Advocate
for respondents No.2 to 4.
1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?yes
2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? yes
3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? yes
M. M. KUMAR J.
1. The petitioner is aggrieved by the show-cause-notice dated
23.05.2008 sent by the Chief Revenue Officer, Housing Board, Haryana,
respondent No.3 regarding showing cause as to why allotment of Lower
Income Group (LIG) Flat in the Housing Board Colony, Dharuhera be not
cancelled (Annexure P-4). A further prayer for issuance of direction to the
respondents prohibiting them from cancelling the allotment of Flat which he
CWP NO.11235 of 2008 -2-
is legally entitled to retain, has also been made.
2. Brief facts of the case are that the Housing Board, respondent
No.2 invited applications for allotment of different categories of Flats
situated at Dharuhera, Sector 6 (Part-II) apart from other places.
3. The categorization of plots was made on the basis of income of
the applicants. For allotment of LIG Flats (Ground floor & First floor), the
brochure stipulated that an applicant is required to have monthly income of
Rs.2,501/- to 5,500/- and for MIG Flats (Ground floor & First floor) the
income was fixed for Rs.5,501/- to 10,000/-. The petitioner had filed
application in respect of LIG Flats in the draw of lots held on 30.01.2008.
He succeeded and was allotted a Flat in Sector 6 (Part-II), Dharuhera. On
14.02.2008, intimation in that regard was given to the petitioner by Oriental
Bank of Commerce, Panchkula and the Housing Board also sent a letter
dated 29.02.2008 confirming the allotment of LIG Flat in Sector 6 (Part-II),
Dharuhera to the petitioner. According to the intimation sent by the Housing
Board on 29.02.2008 (Annexure P-2), it was expressly required by the
petitioner to disclose his monthly income at the time of registration in the
month of June, 2007 (Gross income of the family viz., of an individual,
spouse, dependent relatives including unmarried minor children from all
sources). It is appropriate to mention that applicant had applied under the
reserved category. The petitioner had deposited the installment for his Flat
on 24.03.2008. However, on 23.05.2008, a show cause notice was issued to
him alleging that his family income was Rs.5,717/- p.m. and he was not
eligible to apply for allotment of a Flat in LIG category. The petitioner had
submitted his salary certificate dated 27.04.2005 alongwith his application
form clearly showing that he was withdrawing gross salary of Rs.5,717/-
CWP NO.11235 of 2008 -3-
and the net salary claimed was Rs.4,712/-. He has further claimed that in
whole State of Haryana there was no employee who was withdrawing salary
lesser than 5,717/- .
4. The petitioner has asserted that he has truly disclosed all the
facts. The cancellation of plot would be unwarranted.
5. In the written statement filed by the Secretary, Housing Board,
Haryana, respondent No.4, the stand taken is that the petitioner submitted
his application form and also furnished a certificate deposing therein that he
had carefully gone through the terms and conditions of the scheme and
undertook to abide by the same. He further solemnly affirmed that the
information disclosed in the application was true and correct to his
knowledge and then stated that he fulfilled all the conditions laid down in
the scheme. He further declared that his name might be considered for
registration and allotment without verification of his eligibility by the
Housing Board and if he was ineligible at any time, then his
registration/allotment was liable to be cancelled without notice. The entire
amount deposited by him was to be verified by the Board. The
aforementioned procedure, according to the Housing Board, was adopted in
order to avoid scrutiny of large number of application forms submitted by
all the applicants and confining the considerations only to such applicants
who succeeded in draw of lots. Respondents have, therefore, claimed that
the petitioner was declared successful subject to his eligibility. The
Housing Board, respondent has also referred to a note which has been
omitted by the petitioner in the intimation sent by the Housing Board to him
on 29.02.2008 (Annexure P-2) stating that he did not mention the income in
his application form and the eligibility was to be checked after receipt of
CWP NO.11235 of 2008 -4-
documents. Aforementioned note has now been produced by the
respondents by attaching the complete version of intimation dated
29.02.2008 (Annexure R-2). The salary certificate for the month of June,
2007, which has been submitted by the petitioner (Annexure R-3) would
show that he has been withdrawing gross salary of Rs.7,002/- and would not
obviously be eligible as his gross salary has crossed the limit of Rs.5,500/-
per month.
6. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties at a
considerable length and have perused the paper book as well as the brochure
with their able-assistance. For allotment of LIG Flats, the maximum income
stipulated in the brochure is Rs.5.500/-. The relevant clause and the table
reads thus:-
“Income group for eligibility of flat will be as under:-
Category of flats *Monthly income
LIG GF & FF From Rs.2501/- to Rs.5500/-
MIG GF & FF From Rs.5501/- to Rs.10000/-
HIG GF & FF Above Rs.10000/-
*Monthly Income” shall mean the aggregate monthly income
of an individual and that of his/her spouse and dependent
relatives including unmarried minor children.”
7. For LIG (Ground & First floor), the maximum income
stipulated is Rs.5,500/- and the monthly income was meant to be the
aggregate monthly income of an individual and that of his or her spouse and
dependent relatives etc. The salary certificate dated 27.07.2007 submitted
by the petitioner (Annexure R-3) shows that for the month of June, 2007, he
had gross salary of Rs.7,002/- which make him completely ineligible. It has
CWP NO.11235 of 2008 -5-
come on record that the eligibility of the petitioner was yet to be confirmed
and vide intimation dated 29.02.2008, the Housing Board, respondent No.2
had made it clear by an express note in the letter that the petitioner did not
mention his income in his application form and the eligibility is required to
be checked after receipt of documents (Annexure R-2). In such a
situation, the petitioner can not claim that he should be considered eligible
and the allotment made to him subject to fulfillment of eligibility conditions
should be finalized. There is thus no merit in the petition and the same is
liable to be dismissed.
8. For the reasons aforementioned, this petition fails and the same
is dismissed. However, the amount deposited by the petitioner may be
refunded to him as per provisions of law.
(M. M. Kumar)
Judge
(Jora Singh)
Judge
November 06, 2008
ashish