IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.8832 of 2002 BRIJ BHUSAN PRASAD GUPTA, son of Sri Satyadeo Prasad Gupta, permanent resident of Ramrajya Chowk, Dahivawa, P.O. & P.S. Chapra, District Saran, at present residing at NAPP township C-22/4 Narora, District Bullandsahar (U.P.) Pin No. 202389. . . . . Petitioner. Versus 1. The Managing Director, Bihar State Housing Board, Patna 800 015, 2. The Executive Engineer, Bihar State Housing Board (now Jharkhand Rajya Abas Board), Dhanbad. 3. The State of Bihar. . . . . . . Respondents. ----------- 5/ 11.02.2010 Heard. The petitioner was allotted H.I.G. Flat in July, 2000 which now falls within the territory of State of Jharkhand coming into existence on 15.11.2000. The petitioner made the entire payment of Rs. 72,400/-. However, on 07.07.2000 the petitioner made a request to the Housing Board to cancel the allotment and also pleaded for refund of the amount. The Bihar State Housing Board, accordingly, cancelled the allotment of the petitioner on 14.10.2000. The Housing Board refunded the amount of Rs. 57,920/- after deducting 20 % under Clause 33 (1) of Bihar State Housing Board (Management and Disposal of Housing Estates) Regulations, 1983 framed under the Bihar State Housing Board Act, 1982. Thus, the board refunded Rs. 57920/- after deducting Rs. 14480/- which formed 20 % of the Rs. 72400/- which was deposited by the petitioner. The prayer of the petitioner is that as the payment was made after almost 3 years of request to cancel the allotment and to make the payment, he would be entitled to interest on the due amount. Counsel for the Board submits that writ application is not - 2 - maintainable before this Court. The petitioner ought to have resorted to remedial measures in the State of Jharkhand itself. It would appear from the materials on record that HIG flat was allotted to the petitioner in July, 2000 in Dhanbad formed part of untruncated Bihar. The petitioner had deposited the money with the Bihar State Housing Board. The petitioner had made a request for cancellation of allotment and refund of money in July, 2000 when the State was not yet bifurcated. Being conscious of aforesaid facts, Bihar State Housing Board, made the refund in June, 2003. In this view of the matter, the preliminary objection of the counsel for the Board that this writ application is not maintainable is not acceptable. In the facts of the case, if petitioner files a representation before the Managing Director, Bihar State Housing Board for payment of interest on the refunded amount, he would dispose of his representation preferably within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order in accordance with law. With the aforesaid direction, this application is disposed of. Uday/ (Samarendra Pratap Singh,J).