TMI Blog2021 (8) TMI 1293X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... native accommodation for 15 years after his retirement along with pensionary benefits. There is no indefeasible right in any citizen for allotment of government accommodation on a nominal licence fee. The government accommodation is meant for the serving government employees to facilitate the discharge of their duties. The government accommodation is not meant for the retirees. The accommodation to the retirees is at the cost of serving officers - Dhar and such like persons are not from the poorest Section of the migrants but have worked in the higher echelons of the bureaucracy. To say that they are enforcing their right to shelter only till such time the conditions are conducive for their safe return is wholly illusory. No one is sure that at what point of time the condition will be conducive to the satisfaction of the migrants. Such benevolence and preferential right to Section of the citizens is unfair to the serving officers. Dhar like persons should have compassion for their fellow employees who may be without any government accommodation. The right to shelter does not mean right to government accommodation. The government accommodation is meant for serving officers and offic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Court in J.L. Koul v. State of J K (2010) 1 SCC 371. It was held, that it is not possible for Dhar to return to his own State and that due to which order of eviction shall be kept in abeyance, although the Appellants are at liberty to provide alternative accommodation to Dhar on nominal licence fee in Farid- abad. The same was affirmed by the learned Division Bench of High Court of Punjab Haryana. 5. J.L. Koul was a case arising out of residential accommodation allotted to the Appellant who was a government servant at Jammu in the year 1989-90. The Appellant therein was permitted to retain the house allotted at Jammu for safety reasons. In terms of the interim order passed by the Court, the Chief Secretary of the State had filed an affidavit on 06.10.2009 and disclosed that out of 54 Appellants who were in Court, 23 had already vacated government accommodation and the same had been allotted to the government employees whereas 31 migrants are still occupying the government accommodation. 37,280 families have been registered for the relief including the accommodation and only 5,000 families have been provided with the accommodation. The affidavit stipulates providing transit a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ppeal in which it was inter alia ordered that Union shall provide alternative accommodation to the Petitioner and his or her family anywhere in Delhi but can be even in NCR region, subject to payment of normal license fee. The learned Division Bench was hearing appeals of Union directed against 24 occupants including one, a former Director-General of Border Security Force. The Court referred to Section 2(1)(d) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 as the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by Courts in India. Reference was made to the report of May, 2008 prepared by UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, inter alia, reporting that national authorities have the primary duty and responsibility to provide protection and humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons within their jurisdiction. Principle 7, inter alia, provides that the authorities shall ensure that proper accommodation is provided to displaced persons. The Court also referred to the judgment in J.L. Koul as a binding precedent. The learned Delhi High Court, inter a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the parties and find that the orders of the High Court are unsustainable. In Shiv Sagar Tiwari, the large- -scale allotment of Government houses made out of turn in eleven categories was examined under the Allotment of Government Residences (General Pool in Delhi) Rules, 1963. All such categories were of serving employees who were given out-of-turn allotments. The then Minister of Urban Development in the Central Government was asked to pay a sum of ₹ 60 lakhs as exemplary damages by order dated 8.11.1996. The Court examining the argument of right to shelter, held as under: 3....May we also observe that life, livelihood and shelter are so mixed, mingled and fused that it is difficult to separate them. To take away life, it would be enough to take away livelihood; and to earn livelihood, which in urban areas is ordinarily at places away from one's own home and hearth, shelter would be necessary -- be it a house or even a pavement. This Court has dealt with cases of pavement-dwellers. The locus classicus in Olga Tellis [Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation (1985) 3 SCC 545] and the latest rendering is in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation v. Nawab Khan Gulab Khan [JT ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... osed in this context on high public functionaries would be discharged, we are sure, only to advance the object of providing of suitable conditions of work to government employees so that the Government is run on even keel; and shelter, which is a very pressing necessity of any human being, would not come to be denied if the same is otherwise due to the incumbent. A satisfied bureaucracy is as much necessary, as good political leadership, to deliver the goods. The Government of free India have many promises to keep after its tryst with destiny on the midnight of 14-8-1947. We have no doubt that all the public functionaries would so act that the meeting with destiny really sees the dawn of an era of hope for all. 10. In S.D. Bandi, the occupation of a government accommodation by the members of three branches of the State i.e., legislature, executive and the judiciary beyond the period for which the same was allotted came up for consideration. This Court, inter-alia, held as under: 33.18 Since allotment of Government accommodation is a privilege given to the Ministers and Members of Parliament, the matter of unauthorized retention should be intimated to the Speaker/Chairman of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the Respondent State cannot be accepted for the reason that the 1981 Act does not make any such provision and the 1997 Rules, which are only in the nature of executive instructions and contrary to the provisions of the 1981 Act, cannot be acted upon. 38. Moreover, the position of the Chief Minister and the Cabinet Ministers of the State cannot stand on a separate footing after they demit their office. Moreover, no other dignitary, holding constitutional post is given such a facility. For the aforestated reasons, the 1997 Rules are not fair, and more so, when the subject of salary and allowances of the Ministers, is governed by Section 4(2)(a) of the 1981 Act. XXX XXX XXX 46. So far as allotment of bungalow to private trusts or societies is concerned, it is not in dispute that all those bungalows were allotted to the societies/trusts/organisations at the time when there was no provision with regard to allotment of government bungalows to them and therefore, in our opinion, the said allotment cannot be held to be justified. One should remember here that public property cannot be disposed of in favour of any one without adequate consideration. Allotment of government prop ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 13. In view of the judgments referred above, the Government accommodation could not have been allotted to a person who had demitted office. No exception was carved out even in respect of the persons who held Constitutional posts at one point of time. It was held that the Government accommodation is only meant for in-service officers and not for the retirees or those who have demitted office. Therefore, the view of the learned Delhi High Court and that of the Punjab Haryana High Court is erroneous on the basis of compassion showed to displaced persons on account of terrorist activities in the State. The compassion could be shown for accommodating the displaced persons for one or two months but to allow them to retain the Government accommodation already allotted or to allot an alternative accommodation that too with a nominal licence fee defeats the very purpose of the Government accommodation which is meant for serving officers. The compassion howsoever genuine does not give a right to a retired person from continuing to occupy a government accommodation. 14. According to a policy framed by the government, a displaced person is to be lodged in a transit accommodation and if it ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... stitution. This Court in a judgment reported as Indian Bank v. ABS Marine Products (P) Ltd. (2006) 5 SCC 72 held that the High Courts repeatedly followed a direction issued Under Article 142, by treating it as the law declared by this Court. It was held that the Courts should therefore be careful to ascertain and follow the ratio decidendi, and not the relief given on the special facts. This Court held as under: 26. One word before parting. Many a time, after declaring the law, this Court in the operative part of the judgment, gives some directions which may either relax the application of law or exempt the case on hand from the rigour of the law in view of the peculiar facts or in view of the uncertainty of law till then, to do complete justice. While doing so, normally it is not stated that such direction/order is in exercise of power Under Article 142. It is not uncommon to find that courts have followed not the law declared, but the exemption/relaxation made while moulding the relief in exercise of power Under Article 142. When the High Courts repeatedly follow a direction issued Under Article 142, by treating it as the law declared by this Court, incongruously the exemption ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... egitimate expectation. 18. Therefore, the direction issued in J.L. Kaul that the retirees shall continue to possess the accommodation in their possession is a direction Under Article 142 of the Constitution. This Court had accepted the rehabilitation scheme finalized by the State Government. 19. Dhar was an officer of the Intelligence Bureau. He has drawn his salary and availed of alternative accommodation for 15 years after his retirement along with pensionary benefits. There is no indefeasible right in any citizen for allotment of government accommodation on a nominal licence fee. The government accommodation is meant for the serving government employees to facilitate the discharge of their duties. The government accommodation is not meant for the retirees. The accommodation to the retirees is at the cost of serving officers. In terms of the policy which was considered in J.L. Koul, the Kashmiri migrants are entitled to transit accommodation and if transit accommodation could not be provided then money for residence and expenses. Dhar and such like persons are not from the poorest Section of the migrants but have worked in the higher echelons of the bureaucracy. To say that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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