P.Pugalenthi, v. State Of Tamil Nadu,
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 29.11.2016
CORAM
The HON'BLE MR.SANJAY KISHAN KAUL, CHIEF JUSTICE AND The HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE R.MAHADEVAN W.P.No.844 of 2012 P.Pugalenthi .. Petitioner vs.
1. The State of Tamil Nadu rep. by the Secretary to Government Housing and Urban Development Department Secretariat, Chennai - 600 009.
2. The Managing Director Tamil Nadu Housing Board Chennai - 600 034.
.. Respondents PRAYER: Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ of Certiorari to call for the records in G.O.Ms.No.56, Housing and Urban Development (HB 4(1)) Department, dated 28.2.2011 issued by the first respondent and quash the same.
For Petitioner : Mr.M.Radhakrishnan For Respondents : Mr.T.N.Rajagopalan Spl. Government Pleader for 1st respondent Mr.V.Ayyadurai Addl.
Advocate General assisted by Mr.V.Anandhamurthy for 2nd respondent
ORDER
(Order of the Court was made by the Hon'ble Chief Justice) The petitioner, through the public interest litigation, seeks to assail the decision made by G.O.Ms.No.56, Housing and Urban Development (HB 4(1)) Department, dated 28.2.2011, setting out a scheme for the benefit of the Government Officials/ Employees known as "Own Your Housing Scheme".
2. The petitioner states that the scheme makes a qualification that such of the applicants who have already availed of the benefit of allotment under the Government Discretionary Quota (GDQ) from the Tamil Nadu Housing Board/second respondent will not be considered for allotment in the scheme.
3. In this behalf, it may be stated that the respondents were asked to file an affidavit and as per the affidavit affirmed by the second respondent dated 28.11.2016, it is stated that 31 All India Service Officers who had already got allotment under the GDQ were identified and their allotment was cancelled.
4. However, the larger question which is sought to be raised in the present petition by the petitioner is that while making other allotments there is a stipulation to the effect that any one already owning a plot/flat or a house would not be eligible, but such a norm has not been prescribed in the present scheme. The allegation, thus, is that this scheme seeks to confer a government largesse on the All India Service Officers and is also not based on an economic criteria, since the object of any scheme of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board is to give housing to persons requiring housing and this special scheme could not have excluded the said requirement.
5. The counter affidavit filed by the first respondent, however, seeks to defend the scheme as a special scheme under the caption "Own Your Housing Scheme" meant for the benefit of All India Service Officers, Grade I Officers of the State Government and other Government Servants, including Court Staff (of course, the Court staff was never a beneficiary). The scheme is stated to contain special guidelines/terms and conditions as under:
(a) The scheme in question has been floated as a self financing scheme wherein allottees themselves will finance the entire cost of construction unlike most other schemes normally floated by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board ("Board") wherein the Board constructs the flats from out of its own funds and the allottees are subsequently required to pay the cost of the flat under a scheme of deferred payment by way of a hire purchase system.
(b)The cost of the land for the scheme in question will be fixed at the highest of the guideline value/ruling rate/ market value. This would show that no special subsidy is being given to the allottees.
(c)The scheme contains a stringent stipulation to the effect that the flats purchased there under shall not be sold for a period of five years. Such a stipulation is not found in any other Housing Scheme floated by the Board.
(d)The Scheme is a one time measure so much so that the Government Servant can avail the benefit of the Scheme only once during his lifetime.
(e)The Scheme expressly prohibits allotment of flats to those Government Servants who already have a flat within the Corporation limtis of Chennai under the Government Discretionary Quota (GDQ).
6. The case which is thus sought to be made out is that this is a self financing scheme where the allottees finance the construction and it is not that the construction is made by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board out of its own funds. The cost of the land was fixed as per the guideline value and there is also a stipulation against sale for a period of five years. What has been emphasized is that the scheme is a one time measure to give benefit to the Government Servants to be availed of only once during the lifetime. The fact that the GDQ beneficiaries are excluded is cited in support of the scheme.
7. The rationale for coming up of the scheme is set out thereafter as under:
i. There are approximately a lakh of Government employees living in the Chennai Metropolitan and suburban areas and a majority of these employees do not have their own housing. As a consequence, there is tremendous pressure and demand on the Government by way of requests from such employees to the Government for provision of rental quarters. However, the housing stock available under the Tamil Nadu Government Rental Housing Schem in Chennai is only around 4200 units. As such, a compelling necessity was felt for formulating schemes for enabling Government Employees to own houses at an affordable cost in the Chennai Metropolitan area as a permanent solution. To this end, the "Own Your Housing Scheme" was envisaged. Indeed, this is the first such scheme that has been floated in the State.
The Scheme further envisages identification of lands in other district headquarters in the State as well for provision of permanent housing to Government employees and accordingly communications have been addressed to District Collectors to identify lands for this purpose. ii.It has been noticed that apart from pay disparity, even the incentives, perks and other fringe benefits available to Government Servants are much less than that provided in the private sector. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract and retain the best of talent in the Government sector.
for housing in the Chennai Metropolitan area at affordable cost for Government employees as an incentive to retain the best of talent in the Government Sector.
iii.The provision of permanent housing in the Chennai Metropolitan area, it was noticed, would enable the families of the Government servants to continue to reside in one place without any dislocation thereby enabling continued education for their off springs even if the employee concerned was transferred.
Pertinently, a Government servant when transferred is required to surrender his rental accommodation, within a maximum period of three months. Needless to highlight, the assurance of such permanent housing would greatly assist in enhancement of productivity since the employee would not be subject to the vagaries and pressures of a floating family establishment without any fixity.
8. It has also been emphasized that the Tamil Nadu Housing Board Act, 1961 envisages and enables execution of such schemes by the Board in terms of Section 35(2) of the said Act, where the Government may transfer land to the Board for execution of a housing/improvement scheme and it cannot be said that the scheme extended for the benefit of Government servants is bad in law. The role of the Government as an employer to provide benefit to its employees would thus come into being. There are stated to be similar schemes in the past relating to different sections of the public, for example, the Special Task Force Personnel who were involved in action against the forest brigand Veerappan, families of martyrs of the Kargil War, etc.
9. The scheme is stated to be executed on land measuring 17.09 Acres comprised in S.Nos.388 to 402 of Nerkundram Village, Ambattur Taluk, Thiruvallur District, in view of the proximity to the Chennai Metropolitan Bus Terminal and Koyambedu Wholesale Market Complex. Thereafter, the nature of construction and the manner of allotment of houses has been set out.
10. In our view, all those aspects may not be so germane as the challenge is limited to the issue of the scheme benefitting the government servants. In our view, the scheme cannot be faulted on the ground as alleged by the petitioner for the reason that it is a special scheme to be availed of once in a life time by the officer concerned as a benefit to working for the Government. The Government, as a model employer, cannot be faulted on this. We are unable to come to a conclusion that this amounts to a largesse to the Government servants for the reason that the cost of construction is being borne by the officers through a self financing process and there is no blockage of funds of the Housing Board. The land is stated to
have been made available at the highest of the guidline value/ruling rate/market value. Thus, there is no such largesse which is sought to be extended to these government servants.
11. The allotments made to 31 All India Service Officers who had already got allotment under the GDQ were cancelled. This being a scheme for the benefit of all officers, the factum of their owning or not owning any other property was not included in the scheme, as the scheme was not one of the traditional nature of providing housing to persons who did not have housing, but was a special benefit to Government Officers at cost.
12. We are, thus, not inclined to pass any further directions or quash the government order in question. The petition, accordingly, stands closed. No costs. Sd/- Asst.Registrar (CS III ) /true copy/ Sub Asst. Registrar To:
1. The Secretary to Government State of Tamil Nadu Housing and Urban Development Department Secretariat, Chennai - 600 009.
2. The Managing Director Tamil Nadu Housing Board Chennai - 600 034.
+1 cc to Mr.V.Anandhamurthy,advocate,sr.70358 +1 cc to Govt.Pleader,sr.70228.
ppa(co) krd 7/12 W.P.No.844 of 2012