IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.15726 of 2005 Between: P. Uma Rani W/o. P.Papaiah R/o. 2-10-1009/2/A, Near Raja Rajeswara Kalyana Mandapam, Karimnagar Town and District, ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Executive Engineer, A.P. Housing Board, Warangal, Warangal District, 2 The Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, A.P. Housing Board, Gruhakalpa, Nampally, Hyderabad, 3 The Junior Engineer, A.P. Housing Board, Karimnagar, Karimnagar District, .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to pass appropriate writ, Order or direction particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring the action of the 1st Respondent in issuing the Lr.No. 319 MIG II/KNMR/Es/2005/555 dt. 28-2-2005 rejecting the claim of the petitioner for refund of 30% costs for allotment of H.No. 319 MIG-II Karimnagar and forefeiting the amount to the bond as arbitrary, unreasonable, illegal, improper and set aside the same, by directing the respondents to consider alloting alternative housing Board quarter at Karimnagar by accepting the balance amount from the petitioner for the purpose of allotment of House/quarter and pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper and necessary. Counsel for the Petitioner: SRI V.SREE RANGA RAO Counsel for the Respondents:SRI J.PRABHAKAR (SC FOR APHB) The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.15726 of 2005 ORDER: The petitioner applied for allotment of Middle Income Group house in Andhra Pradesh Housing Board Colony at Karimnagar. In the lottery she was allotted house No.319 MIG-II. As per the terms of allotment she is required to pay a sum of Rs.71,050/- towards 30% of initial cost including Earnest Money Deposit amount. She could not pay the amount. She states that her family was in dire ﬁnancial straits and could not arrange the money. Therefore, she approached APHB for refund of money paid by her (Rs.27,200/-), in vain. Her request was rejected by communication dated 28.02.2005 informing that the amount paid by her was forfeited and allotment was cancelled. Therefore, she ﬁled the instant writ petition, inter alia, seeking refund of money, and in the alternative, a direction to APHB to accept balance money and regularize the same. When the writ petition was admitted on 20.07.2005 this Court passed interim order, which reads as below. It is stated that the petitioner will submit a representation to the respondents highlighting the fact that the petitioner’s family is in penury and on account of ﬁnancial diﬃculties she was not able to make payment and that there are several vacant houses still available which either could be allotted to the petitioner or at least the amount deposited by her refunded. He further states that the said representation will be ﬁled within one week from today before the second respondent. The second respondent shall consider the petitioner’s representation and pass appropriate orders thereon within a period of two months from the date of receipt of such representation. In the counter aﬃdavit ﬁled by the ﬁrst respondent it is stated that pursuant to the interim orders of this Hon’ble High Court, the said representation of the petitioner was considered and vide letter dated 07.10.2005 the EMD amount of Rs.27,200/- was refunded to the petitioner vide cheque No.970468, dated 07.10.2005, and she was further informed that no houses are available at Karimnagar to consider her request for allotment of alternate house. The payment of amount was also acknowledged by the petitioner on 14.10.2005. In view of the counter averments, this Court is not inclined to go into other question as to whether the petitioner is entitled for reallotment of house. Cancellation of allotment by APHB was strictly in accordance with relevant Regulations i.e., Andhra Pradesh Housing Board (Allotment, Management and Sale of HIG, MIG, LIG and EWS Houses or Flats) Regulations, 1997. The Writ Petition is disposed of accordingly. No costs. ____________ (V.V.S.RAO, J) 25.09.2008 vs To 1 The Executive Engineer, A.P. Housing Board, Warangal, Warangal District, 2 The Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, A.P. Housing Board, Gruhakalpa, Nampally, Hyderabad, 3 The Junior Engineer, A.P. Housing Board, Karimnagar, Karimnagar District, 4 2CCs to 5 2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{VSMI}