May fix officers’ responsibility for creating imbroglio: HC

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 13

More than a decade after a housing scheme was launched for UT employees but the self-financing dwelling units were not dispensed to the applicants, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today made it clear that it could examine the need for fixing responsibility of officers for creating an imbroglio. In such an eventuality, it would order punitive action, the High Court asserted.

As the case came up for resumed hearing, the Bench of Justice Rajan Gupta and Justice Karamjit Singh asserted senior counsel for the Union of India Chetan Mittal may seek instructions from the Union Secretary, Home. He may convene a meeting with the UT Adviser and the Housing Board Chairman to resolve the issue.

Speaking for the Bench, Justice Gupta added three representatives of the petitioner-applicants may also be associated with the proceedings. But in case the court ultimately had to adjudicate upon the matter, it would also examine the question whether responsibility of certain officers was to be fixed for creating the imbroglio.

The petition in the matter was filed way back in 2013. A substantial number of employees since then have retired from service upon attaining the age of superannuation and some of them are staying in rented accommodations. Available information suggests some of the applicants have even expired over the years.

The Bench, on a previous date of hearing, was told that the process of dispensing the dwelling units could proceed with flexible payment schedule as the proposal to allot land to the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) had been approved, paving the way for the construction of apartments for no less than 3,930 allottees.

The Bench had earlier asked the Union of India to make clear its stand on the proposal sent by the Administration for allocation of land to the board. The development had taken place on a petition filed by Phool Kumar Saini and other petitioners against the CHB and another respondent.

The petitioners were seeking directions to the CHB and another respondent to implement the Self-Financing Housing Scheme-2008 on a leasehold basis for 99 years for Chandigarh Administration employees.

The court was told that the housing scheme for the employees was launched in February 2008 by the Union Territory, Chandigarh. The draw of lots was held on November 4, 2010, and approximately 3,950 employees were successful. However, nothing was apparently done by the CHB. Even acceptance-cum-demand letters were not issued to the successful applicants and “the bureaucrats at high level were sleeping over the matter”.

The petitioners had added the CHB was apparently more interested in providing houses to encroachers. They were getting houses and tenements free of cost as “in all this the CHB gets an opportunity to do bungling”.

On the other hand, the successful applicants like the petitioners having a legitimate right to get a house by making payment as prescribed in the brochure were “left in the doldrums”. The petitioners claimed they were also being “prejudiced severely”.

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