CWP NO.11235 of 2008 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP NO.11235 of 2008 Decided on : 06.11.2008 Pawan Kumar ....Petitioner VERSUS State of Haryana & others ....Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M. M. KUMAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JORA SINGH Present:- Mr. Pankaj Nanhera, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Ashish Kapoor, Addl. A. G., Haryana for respondent No.1. Mr. Sanjay Vashisht, Advocate for respondents No.2 to 4. 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?yes 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? yes 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? yes M. M. KUMAR J. 1. The petitioner is aggrieved by the show-cause-notice dated 23.05.2008 sent by the Chief Revenue Officer, Housing Board, Haryana, respondent No.3 regarding showing cause as to why allotment of Lower Income Group (LIG) Flat in the Housing Board Colony, Dharuhera be not cancelled (Annexure P-4). A further prayer for issuance of direction to the respondents prohibiting them from cancelling the allotment of Flat which he CWP NO.11235 of 2008 -2- is legally entitled to retain, has also been made. 2. Brief facts of the case are that the Housing Board, respondent No.2 invited applications for allotment of different categories of Flats situated at Dharuhera, Sector 6 (Part-II) apart from other places. 3. The categorization of plots was made on the basis of income of the applicants. For allotment of LIG Flats (Ground floor & First floor), the brochure stipulated that an applicant is required to have monthly income of Rs.2,501/- to 5,500/- and for MIG Flats (Ground floor & First floor) the income was fixed for Rs.5,501/- to 10,000/-. The petitioner had filed application in respect of LIG Flats in the draw of lots held on 30.01.2008. He succeeded and was allotted a Flat in Sector 6 (Part-II), Dharuhera. On 14.02.2008, intimation in that regard was given to the petitioner by Oriental Bank of Commerce, Panchkula and the Housing Board also sent a letter dated 29.02.2008 confirming the allotment of LIG Flat in Sector 6 (Part-II), Dharuhera to the petitioner. According to the intimation sent by the Housing Board on 29.02.2008 (Annexure P-2), it was expressly required by the petitioner to disclose his monthly income at the time of registration in the month of June, 2007 (Gross income of the family viz., of an individual, spouse, dependent relatives including unmarried minor children from all sources). It is appropriate to mention that applicant had applied under the reserved category. The petitioner had deposited the installment for his Flat on 24.03.2008. However, on 23.05.2008, a show cause notice was issued to him alleging that his family income was Rs.5,717/- p.m. and he was not eligible to apply for allotment of a Flat in LIG category. The petitioner had submitted his salary certificate dated 27.04.2005 alongwith his application form clearly showing that he was withdrawing gross salary of Rs.5,717/- CWP NO.11235 of 2008 -3- and the net salary claimed was Rs.4,712/-. He has further claimed that in whole State of Haryana there was no employee who was withdrawing salary lesser than 5,717/- . 4. The petitioner has asserted that he has truly disclosed all the facts. The cancellation of plot would be unwarranted. 5. In the written statement filed by the Secretary, Housing Board, Haryana, respondent No.4, the stand taken is that the petitioner submitted his application form and also furnished a certificate deposing therein that he had carefully gone through the terms and conditions of the scheme and undertook to abide by the same. He further solemnly affirmed that the information disclosed in the application was true and correct to his knowledge and then stated that he fulfilled all the conditions laid down in the scheme. He further declared that his name might be considered for registration and allotment without verification of his eligibility by the Housing Board and if he was ineligible at any time, then his registration/allotment was liable to be cancelled without notice. The entire amount deposited by him was to be verified by the Board. The aforementioned procedure, according to the Housing Board, was adopted in order to avoid scrutiny of large number of application forms submitted by all the applicants and confining the considerations only to such applicants who succeeded in draw of lots. Respondents have, therefore, claimed that the petitioner was declared successful subject to his eligibility. The Housing Board, respondent has also referred to a note which has been omitted by the petitioner in the intimation sent by the Housing Board to him on 29.02.2008 (Annexure P-2) stating that he did not mention the income in his application form and the eligibility was to be checked after receipt of CWP NO.11235 of 2008 -4- documents. Aforementioned note has now been produced by the respondents by attaching the complete version of intimation dated 29.02.2008 (Annexure R-2). The salary certificate for the month of June, 2007, which has been submitted by the petitioner (Annexure R-3) would show that he has been withdrawing gross salary of Rs.7,002/- and would not obviously be eligible as his gross salary has crossed the limit of Rs.5,500/- per month. 6. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties at a considerable length and have perused the paper book as well as the brochure with their able-assistance. For allotment of LIG Flats, the maximum income stipulated in the brochure is Rs.5.500/-. The relevant clause and the table reads thus:- “ Income group for eligibility of flat will be as under:- Category of flats *Monthly income LIG GF & FF From Rs.2501/- to Rs.5500/- MIG GF & FF From Rs.5501/- to Rs.10000/- HIG GF & FF Above Rs.10000/- *Monthly Income” shall mean the aggregate monthly income of an individual and that of his/her spouse and dependent relatives including unmarried minor children.” 7. For LIG (Ground & First floor), the maximum income stipulated is Rs.5,500/- and the monthly income was meant to be the aggregate monthly income of an individual and that of his or her spouse and dependent relatives etc. The salary certificate dated 27.07.2007 submitted by the petitioner (Annexure R-3) shows that for the month of June, 2007, he had gross salary of Rs.7,002/- which make him completely ineligible. It has CWP NO.11235 of 2008 -5- come on record that the eligibility of the petitioner was yet to be confirmed and vide intimation dated 29.02.2008, the Housing Board, respondent No.2 had made it clear by an express note in the letter that the petitioner did not mention his income in his application form and the eligibility is required to be checked after receipt of documents (Annexure R-2). In such a situation, the petitioner can not claim that he should be considered eligible and the allotment made to him subject to fulfillment of eligibility conditions should be finalized. There is thus no merit in the petition and the same is liable to be dismissed. 8. For the reasons aforementioned, this petition fails and the same is dismissed. However, the amount deposited by the petitioner may be refunded to him as per provisions of law. (M. M. Kumar) Judge (Jora Singh) Judge November 06, 2008 ashish