IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.16152 of 2009 Date of Decision: September 10, 2010 Saroj Kumari & Others .....PETITIONER(S) VERSUS State of Punjab & Others .....RESPONDENT(S) . . . CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAI LAMBA PRESENT: - Mr. Parneet Singh, Advocate, for Mr. P.S. Khurana, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr. B.S. Chahal, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab, for the respondents. . . . AJAI LAMBA, J (Oral) 1. This civil writ petition has been filed under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India, praying for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus, directing the respondent- Department to protect the House Rent Allowance payable to the petitioners. 2. Learned counsel for the respondent- State contends that the matter has been rendered infructuous in so much as specific averments have been made in the affidavit filed on behalf of the CWP No.16152 of 2009 [2] respondents. In the affidavit filed on behalf of respondent Nos.1, 2 and 4, the following has been pleaded in Para 2 and 3:- “2. That in the present writ petition out of total 108 petitioners, 72 petitioners belong to department of secondary education. Out of these 72, one name (on Sr. No.57) being reprinted (on Sr. No.87) and submission of an affidavit by one petitioner (Sr. No.105) the total no of aggrieved petitioners (in the Secondary department) remains 70 only. (The list of 70 petitioners remarks attached as Annexure R-1). 3. That the sanction regarding payment of protected house rent allowance has been issued to all the concerned heads of the school by respondent No.4 vide order no.A- 8/2010-7198-7267 dated 31.3.2010. (Copy of the said order annexed as R-2). It is further submitted that the payments regarding the said allowances have been done to all the 70 petitioner related to the Secondary Education Department (Receipts are attached as Annexure R-3 (10 to 37) therefore their grievances have been redressed.” 3. In short affidavit filed on behalf of respondent Nos.3 and 5, the following has been pleaded in Para 4:- “4. That the payment of protected House rent allowance has been made to 32 petitioners i.e. petitioners No.1, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18, 23, 24, 25, 28, 30, 33, 35, 38, 40, 46, 48, 51, 62, 68, 73, 79, 81, 88, 89, 93, 97, 102, 103, 108, true translated copies of all Receipts are annexed herewith as ANNEXURE R-2.” 4. In view of the averments made on behalf of the respondents, this petition has been rendered infructuous and is disposed of as such. (AJAI LAMBA) September 10, 2010 JUDGE avin 1. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 2. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest?