Delhi High Court - Orders
Comdt Yatindra Nath Rai vs Union Of India And Ors on 1 September, 2023
Author: Satish Chandra Sharma
Bench: Chief Justice, Sanjeev Narula
$~14
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 9595/2023 & CM APPL. 36691/2023
COMDT YATINDRA NATH RAI ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Sanjay K. Shandilya, Mr.
Abhishek Singh and Mr. Hemant
Sharma, Advocates.
versus
UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Chetan Sharma, ASG with Mr.
Ajay Digpaul, CGSC and Mr. Amit
Gupta, Ms. Swati Kwatra, Mr. Kamal
Rattan Digpaul, Ms. Ishita Pathak &
Mr. Ghanshyam Jha, Advocates for
UOI.
CORAM:
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV NARULA
ORDER
% 01.09.2023
1. The present petition inter alia impugns Rule 43 of the Central Government General Pool Residential Accommodation Rules, 2017, which restricts the period of retention of the General Pool Residential Accommodation, hereinafter "GPRA", by an allottee at their last place of posting, who are posted to a non-family station, for bona fide use by their family members, to a maximum of three years. Briefly put, the Petitioner, who is posted in Kashmir - a non-family station, was informed by the Respondent that there will be no extension in respect of retention of his GPRA quarters at Delhi - his last place of posting, beyond 03rd September, This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 16/09/2023 at 15:20:06 2023, as the aforementioned period of three years would expire.
2. It has been brought to the notice of this Court that in a large number of cases with identical facts, interim orders have been issued. The relevant portion of one such order dated 25th March, 2022 passed in W.P.(C) No. 7486/2021 by Coordinate Bench of this Court, is reproduced as under:
"CM APPL. 14919/20225. This application has also been moved by Mr Satwinder Pal Singh Sandhu. The substantive prayers made in the above-captioned application read as follows:
"a) grant ex-parte ad-interim stay to the show cause notice u/s 3B of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 bearing no. EO/CH/306/7A/2021 dated 03.03.2022; and/or
b) grant ex-parte ad-interim stay to the applicant also as per order 06.08.2021 in Writ Petition (C) No. 7486 of 2021 and/or;
c) grant ex-parte ad-interim stay of OM No. 22019/2020-POI-II dated 04.03.2021 which restrict the period of retention of GPRA beyond 30.06.2021 in so far as they restrict the period of retention of GPRA at the last place of posting in case of posting to non-family station to a maximum of 3 years; and/or."
6. It is not in dispute that, on 06.08.2021, a coordinate bench of this Court had issued the following operative directions qua the subject office memorandum [OM]. For the sake of convenience, the relevant part of the aforementioned order is extracted hereafter:
"We accordingly, as an ad-interim measure, stay the operation, implementation and execution of OM No. 22019/1/2020-Pol-II dated 04.03.2021, which restricts the period of retention of GPRA upto 30.06.2021, at the last place of posting of the Petitioners, who are currently posted to non-family stations. The stay shall operate in favour of the Petitioners till the next date of hearing."
7. It appears that the official respondents are issuing show cause notices, as in the case of the applicant, in view of the Court observing in the aforementioned order that "...stay shall operate in favour of the Petitioners.."; giving an impression that it does not extend to other similarly circumstanced persons.
7.1. In our view, once the operation of the subject OM i.e., OM dated 04.03.2021 has been stayed, it should operate in rem. This would do away with the anxiety experienced by all those personnel, who are affected by the policy under challenge i.e., Rule 43 of the Central Government General Pool Residential Accommodation Rules, 2017 dated 16.06.2017, and This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 16/09/2023 at 15:20:06 therefore it would do away the need for them to file such like applications for impleadment.
7.2. Accordingly, the operation of the show cause notice dated 15.02.2022 issued to the applicant, is stayed. Furthermore, the order dated 06.08.2021 is modified, to the extent that it shall apply to all personnel who are similarly placed.
8. Mr Digpaul says that, in view of the above, the respondent no. 4/Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs would not want to file a reply. 8.1 The statement of Mr Digpaul is taken on record.
9. The above-captioned application is, accordingly, disposed of."
[Emphasis Supplied]
3. Thus, as per direction issued by the Coordinate Bench, the operation of Respondent's office memorandum dated 04th March, 2021, which restricted the period of retention of GPRA at the last place of posting of persons, who are currently posted to a non-family station, has been stayed. That apart, the Court also observed that the stay would operate in rem.
4. In the light of the above, the interim order granted in W.P.(C) No. 7486/2021 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the present case.
5. At this juncture, learned counsel for Union of India has informed this Court that connected matters are listed before Division Bench-VI on 20th September, 2023.
6. List the present matter along with the connected matters on 20th September, 2023.
SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA, CJ SANJEEV NARULA, J SEPTEMBER 1, 2023/ns This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 16/09/2023 at 15:20:06