IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD THURSDAY, THE NINETEENTH DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT APPEAL NO : 1601 of 2008 (Writ Appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the Order dated 23/09/2008 in WP NO : 24786 OF 2004 on the file of the High Court.) Between: 1 A.P. Housing Board,rep. by the Executive Engineer (Housing), North Division, Bharat Nagar, Hyderabad. 2 A.P. Housing Board, rep. by the Vice Chairmna & Housing Commissioner, at Gruhakalpa, Nampally, Hyderabad. ..... APPELLANTS AND Chand Pashad, S/o. Shaik Mahmood Saheb, R/o. 20-3-859/A/1, Dal Mandi, Shah Gunj, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENT Counsel for the Appellants: SRI D.RANGANATHA KUMAR Counsel for the Respondents: SRI A.RAVI SHANKAR The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT APPEAL NO :1601 of 2008 JUDGMENT: (per Hon’ble Smt. Justice T. Meena Kumari) The present writ appeal is preferred by the appellants aggrieved by order, dated 23.09.2008 in W.P.No.24786 of 2004. The respondent herein is the writ petitioner. He filed the above writ petition challenging the action of the appellants in canceling the allotment of house No.127-HIG-B, at Gatchibowli, vide proceedings dated 4.8.2004 and in calling upon the writ petitioner to pay a sum of Rs.5,49,754/- vide letter dated 8.12.2004 without deducting a sum of Rs.2,64,160/- already paid by the petitioner and not considering the representation of the writ petitioner dated 5.9.2004. The learned single Judge disposed of the writ petition granting two weeks time from today to pay the amount of Rs.5,49,754/- as demanded in the order dated 8.12.2004. It was made clear by the learned single Judge that APHB shall not charge any further interest on the said amount and as and when the said amount is paid, possession shall be handed over to him after completing formalities and in default, it shall be open to APHB to cancel the allotment and auction it after issuing notification as per Regulation 28(iii) of the A.P.H.B (Allotment, Management and Sale of HIG, MIG, LIG, and EWS Houses or Flats) Regulations, 1997. Having aggrieved by the same, the writ appeal has been preferred by the authorities. Heard the learned Counsel and perused the material available on record. It is the contention of the learned Counsel for the appellants that the housing board is entitled to collect the interest and therefore, the direction of the learned single Judge is not sustainable in law. In reply, the learned Counsel for the respondent herein contended that the respondent-writ petitioner has already paid Rs.2,64,160/- and thereafter, on demand made by the appellants to pay Rs.5,49,754/-, he has paid the same vide demand draft dated 3.10.2008 and he did not receive any letter except the letter dated 20.12.2002 to enter into the agreement and to take possession of the house and thereafter, he was transferred to Nizamabad and hence, there was no communication from the office and as on today, he completed all the formalities and no amount is due and therefore, charging of interest is very illegal and arbitrary. In view of the rival contentions as well as the submission of the learned counsel for the respondent that the respondent would pay an amount of Rs.2,50,000/- towards interest over and above the amount which has been already paid and in view of the fact that the present writ appeal has been filed questioning the order of the learned single Judge insofar as non-levying of interest, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, we feel that it would suffice if the order of the learned single Judge is modified to the effect that the respondent-writ petitioner shall pay an amount of Rs.2,50,000/- (Rupees Two Lakhs and Fifty Thousand only) towards interest in addition to the amount viz., Rs.5,49,754/- which has already been paid, within a period of two months from the date of receipt of this order. On such payment, the possession of the house in question shall be delivered to the respondent in accordance with law, within a period of eight weeks thereafter. Subject to the above modification, the writ appeal is disposed of. No order as to costs. _________________________ Justice T. Meena Kumari ____________________________ Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy Date: 19th February, 2009 Note: CC in one week (BO) Nn/gurc. THE HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT APPEAL NO :1601 of 2008 (Judgment delivered by the Hon’ble Smt. Justice T. Meena Kumari) 19th February, 2009