THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA Writ Petition No. 20330 of 2007 Date: 12.02.2008 Between: J.V. Sadanand. ..... PETITIONER AND A.P. Housing Board, rep. by Vice-Chairman and Housing Commissioner, Gruhakalpa, M.J. Road, Hyderabad and another. .....RESPONDENTS THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA Writ Petition No. 20330 of 2007 Order: Questioning the action of the respondents-A.P. Housing Board in canceling the allotment made in favour of the petitioner in respect of the house bearing No.193/HIG-B, Gachibowli, and issuing public notification dated 17.08.2007, to conduct public auction of the said house, the petitioner filed the present writ petition. The petitioner states that in pursuance of the notification issued by the respondents, he applied for allotment of HIG House at Gachibowli, and on payment of Rs.1,18,000/- being 30% of the estimated cost of Rs.3,95,000/-, he was allotted house No.193/HIG-B at Gatchibowli under Phase IV on 30.11.1998. While so, the 2nd respondent issued a letter dated 10.12.2004 directing him to pay an amount of Rs.7,70,803/- on or before 30.11.2004 towards the balance amount payable and other charges for registration of the house. Obviously the said letter was signed and sent to him after the due date. Immediately, he made a representation to the Government either to permit him to pay the demanded amount in instalments or issue NOC for obtaining loan from financial institutions. The Government, by letter dated 28.02.2005, directed the respondents to consider his case and extend the time for payment of demanded amount. While the matter stood thus, the respondents unilaterally cancelled the allotment made in favour of the petitioner and conducted public auction of the house allotted to him on 19.09.2007, which the petitioner contends, is illegal and arbitrary. Hence, he filed the present writ petition Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Standing Counsel for the respondents-A.P. Housing Board. Though the petitioner contends that the respondents, without issuing any prior notice and without giving him opportunity to pay the demanded amount, have unilaterally cancelled the allotment made in his favour and conducted auction of the house allotted to him, a perusal of the counter averments coupled with the material papers produced by the respondents-A.P. Housing Board would disclose the following facts: In pursuance of the notification issued by the respondents-A.P. Housing Board, the petitioner applied for allotment of HIG House at Gachibowli under Phase-IV, and the respondents, by letter dated 02.12.1997, informed the petitioner that House No. 193/HIG-B at Gachibowli under Phase-IV was allotted to him on payment of 30% of estimated cost, which was fixed as Rs.3,95,000/-. The petitioner, having agreed to all the terms and conditions of the allotment letter, deposited EMD amount of Rs.1,30,000/-. Though the House No. 193/HIG was allotted to the petitioner in the year 1997 after paying EMD amount, and a letter was issued on 08.12.1998 calling upon the petitioner to visit the site often and make the payments up to date to avoid cancellation of the allotment, the petitioner neither watched the progress of the work nor paid the instalments of the tentative cost of the house, nor executed the lease agreement. On 29.01.2000, the respondents-A.P. Housing Board also issued a letter to the petitioner informing him of the revised tentative cost of HIG-V Block as Rs.5,32,200/- and requested him to pay the dues and comply with all the formalities and take physical possession of the house within a period of 15 days, and in the event of his failing to take possession of the house within the stipulated period, the allotment would be cancelled forfeiting the EMD amount already paid. Again on 20/12.12.2002, a final notice was issued to the petitioner requesting him to pay an amount of Rs.1,45,060/- towards H.P. instalments due and take physical possession of the house duly executing an agreement of sale within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of that notice, failing which the allotment would be cancelled and the amount paid by him would be forfeited. However, the petitioner failed to comply with the same. Later, on 20.04.2004, a paper publication was issued calling upon all the defaulters, including the petitioner herein to pay the due amounts on or before 20.05.2004, complete all the formalities and take over possession of the allotted houses, failing which the allotments would be cancelled without any further notice duly forfeiting the amounts already paid by the allottees and the houses would be allotted to the general public as per the regulations of the Board. Even after giving wide publicity in the newspaper, the petitioner has not responded and did not pay the amounts and take delivery of possession of the house. Therefore, the respondents-A.P. Housing Board, by order dated 18.08.2004, has cancelled the allotment of House No. 193/HIG-B at Gatchibowli, made in favour of the petitioner, duly forfeiting the amounts already paid by him. On receipt of the said cancellation orders, the petitioner has submitted a representation dated 06.10.2004 to the 1st respondent, expressing his personal problems and sought time to pay the entire balance amount due to the Board. Considering the petitioner’s case, the respondents-A.P. Housing Board once again calculated the amounts due along with interest and sent a letter on 10.12.2004, informing the petitioner that he is due to pay an amount of Rs.7,70,803/- as on 30.11.2004, and requested him to pay. The petitioner, instead of making the payments, again wrote a letter on 23.12.2004 requesting to extend the time up to January 2005 on the ground that there are no auspicious days, and by letter dated 05.01.2005, the petitioner also sought for no objection certificate for obtaining loan from the Bank. As the petitioner in spite of being granted as many as 40 instalments from the date of allotment of house i.e., from 1997 to 2004, and despite extending time as and when requested for payment, has failed to pay the amount and had shown least interest in paying the amount and taking delivery of the possession of the house, the respondents rejected the request of the petitioner, and cancelled the allotment made in his favour, and accordingly by letter dated 29.01.2005 informed him that because of cancellation of allotment of the house, no NOC can be issued for raising loan from financial institution. It is also brought to the notice of this Court that later on, after issuing a public auction notice dated 17.08.2007, the subject house was auctioned on 19.09.2007 for a price money of Rs.83,15,000/- and one M. Pradeep Reddy, who is the successful bidder in the said auction, has already deposited an amount of Rs.21,61,900/-, vide challan dated 20.09.2007, and because of pendency of the writ petition, he has not paid the balance amount. Since, the material filed by the respondents, as discussed above, shows that the petitioner, despite being given sufficient time to pay the due amount, and despite issuance of paper notification calling upon the petitioner and similarly placed persons to pay the due amount, else the allotment of house in his/their favour would be cancelled, the petitioner failed to respond to the same and pay the due amount, and as such, no exception can be taken to the action of the respondents-A.P. Housing Board in canceling the allotment of house made in favour of the petitioner and conducting fresh auction of the same. There is no merit in the writ petition, and the same is accordingly dismissed. No costs. ___________________ N.V. RAMANA, J. Date: 12.02.2008 Nsr