IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA LPA No.44 of 2010 1. DR.RAMJI PRASAD AMBASTHA son of Late Braj Bhushan Sahay, resident of MIG 130, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 2. Smt. Daimanti Devi, wife of Shri Amir Pd. Singh, resident of MIG 89, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 3. Harishankar, son of Shri Narain Pd. Singh, resident of MIG 123, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 4. Ram Sumari Devi, wife of late Ramanugrah Sharma, resident of MIG 68, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 5. Shashi Bhushan Prasad, son of Shri Dineshwar Prasad, resident of MIG 40, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 6. Kishori Prasad, son of late Khaderan Singh, resident of MIG 106, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 7. Ahmad Navi Khan, son of late Chedan Navi Khan, resident of MIG 167, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 8. Kedar Prasad Singh, son of late Laxman Singh, resident of MIG 49, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 9. Alak Niranjan Prasad, son of Shri Raj Narain Lal, resident of MIG 71, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 10. Urmila Sinha, wife of late Mani Mohan Sinha, resident of MIG 72, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 11. Rajendra Prasad Sharma, son of Shri Ramawtar Sharma, resident of MIG 79, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 12. Chanda Pandey, wife of Shri Upendra Nath Pandey, resident of MIG 82, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 13. Rameshwar Ram, son of late Doman Ram, resident of MIG 39, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 14. K P Sharma, son of Shri Ambika Singh, resident of MIG 83, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 15. Baikunth Narayan Singh, son of Shri Kal Bamb Narain Singh, resident of MIG 58. Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 16. Malti Devi @ Malti Singh, wife of Sri Madan Mohan Singh, resident of MIG 46, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 2 17. Kunti Devi wife of late Naresh Sharma, resident of MIG 45, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 18. Jitendra Kumar, son of Sri Indradeo Singh, resident of MIG 189, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 19. Chhote Narain Singh, son of late Ram Lal Singh, resident of MIG 102, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 20. Ram Subhag Sharma, son of Chandradeep Sharma, resident of MIG 57, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 21. Smt. Meena Kuamri, wife of Sri Ram Chandra Prasad, resident of MIG 112, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 22. Satya Narain Sao, son of Shri Bishnu Sahu, resident of MIG 36, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 23. Dhananjay Nath Singh, son of Shri Sheo Dutta Prasaad Singh, resident of MIG 107, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 24. Jagdish Ram, son of Shri Ram Balak Ram, resident of MIG 30, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 25. Sheodeo Singh, son of Shri Jagdeo Singh, resident of MIG 41, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 26. Mrityunjay Nath, son of Shri Seo Data Pd. Singh, resident of MIG 28, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 27. Smt. Gunjeshwari Devi, wife of Janeshwar Singh, resident of MIG 87, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 28. Smt. Manju Mishra, wife of Shri Sureshwar Mishra, resident of MIG 80, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 29. Madan Mohan Prasad Singh, son of Shri Paresh Nath Singh, resident of MIG 60, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 30. Mundrika Paswan, son of Shri Narain Paswan, resident of MIG 141, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 31. Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, son of Shri late Braj Bhushan Sinha, resident of MIG 138, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 32. Kewal Ram, son of late Ram Lal Choudhary, resident of MIG 146, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 33. Gopal Das Raitani, son of late Lila Ram, resident of MIG 176, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 3 34. Anuj Kumar Sinha, son of late Brij Mohan Pd., resident of MIG 137, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 35. Ashok Kumar Singh, son of Shri Ram Prasad Singh, resident of MIG 154, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 36. Binod Kumar, son of Shri Jai Ram Singh, resident of MIG 142, Shahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, Distric Gaya 37. Smt. Chandrakali Devi, wife of late Gaya Prasad, resident of MIG 140, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 38. Krishna Kumar Sinha, son of late Bindeshwari Pd. Lal, resident of MIG 53, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 39. Bans Raj Pandey, son of late Baban Pandey, resident of MIG 55, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 40. Smt. Kiran Singh, wife of Sri Bijendra Prasad Singh, resident of MIG 129, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 41. Dharma Nath Singh, son of Shri Nandi Pati Singh, resident of MIG 131, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 42. P K Sinha, son of late Ramdeo Prasad, resident of MIG 139, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 43. Ram Janam Singh, son of Shri Ram Briksha Singh, resident of MIG 149, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 44. Satish Kumar, son of Ramdeo Singh, resident of MIG 43, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 45. Rameshwar Prasad, son of late Raghubir Dayal, resident of MIG 52, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya 46. Chhotu Sao, s/o Shri Bhikhan Sao, resident of MIG 37, Sahid Bhagat Singh Colony, PS Rampur, District Gaya …(Petitioners).. Appellants Versus 1. THE BIHAR STATE HOUSING BOARD through its Managing Director, 6, Mangles Road, Patna 2. The Chief Engineer, Bihar State Housing Board, 6, Mangles Road, Patna 3. The Estate Manager, Bihar State Housing Board, 6, Mangles Road, Patna 4. The Superintending Engineer, Bihar State Housing Board, in-charge, Gaya Circle, Bahadurpur, Patna 5. The Executive Engineer, Bihar State Housing Board, Gaya Division, A P Colony, Gaya 4 6. The District Magistrate, Gaya ….Respondent)- Respondents ----------- For the Appellants: Mr. Shailendra Kumar Sinha For Bihar State Housing Board : Mr. Rajeev Nayan Singh 03- 11/1/2011 The instant appeal has been preferred by the appellants under clause 10 of the Letters Patent of the Patna High Court against the order dated 29.1.2009, passed by a learned single Judge of this Court in CWJC No.4489 of 2001, whereby the writ petition was dismissed. Before we take up the issue, the facts of the case is being mentioned in some detail. Pursuant to an advertisement issued in the year 1989, the petitioners filed applications for allotment of flats/houses of the Bihar State Housing Board in the township of Gaya. At the relevant time, the tentative price of the flats was fixed at Rs. 1,27,494/-. A lottery was held in the year 1991 and in pursuance thereof the flats/houses were allotted to different applicants including the petitioners. Subsequently in the year 1992, the prices of the flats were enhanced and enhancement of cost was intimated to the petitioners being Rs.1,78,326/- for 166 flats, and Rs.1,57,491/- for the remaining 24 flats. The petitioners being aggrieved by the aforesaid enhancement moved this Court by preferring CWJC No.10888 of 1992. A Division 5 Bench by its order dated 1.4.94 (Annexure 4 to CWJC No.4489 of 2001) directed the Housisng Board to fix the price as on the date of the lottery, i.e. 1.1.91. Pursuant to the direction of the Court, the Housing Board again determined the price of the flats as on 1.1.91. The price for 166 flats/houses earlier fixed at Rs.1,78,326/- was reduced to Rs.1,59,620/-, and 24 flats/houses of which earlier price was at Rs.1,57,491/- was reduced to to Rs.1,100,82/-. The aforesaid deductions of rates did not satisfy the petitioners and they again moved this Court by preferring CWJC no.11620 of 1994. In the aforesaid writ petition this Court granted another indulgence to the petitioners and directed for constitution of a three –man Committee to re-examine the prices of the flats/houses in question. Pursuant to the direction of this Court the three-man Committee heard the parties, examined the matter, and passed its order dated 25.1.2001 which has been annexed as Annexure 14 to CWJC No.4489 of 2001. The Committee in its report came to the conclusion that no arbitrariness was committed by the Board in fixing the prices on the basis of the rates as on 1.1.91, the date on which the lottery was held. The petitioners again moved this Court by preferring CWJC 6 No.4489 of 2001. The learned single Judge in his elaborate order dismissed the writ petition holding that there was no infirmity in the report of the Committee. This Court also noticed that fixation of price of flats/houses is necessarily to be left to the judgment of the executive itself because they are in a better position to do the same, and the Court should refrain from taking on themselves the job of fixing the prices of the flats in question. The learned single Judge in this context relied on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Prag Ice & Oil Mills v Union of India reported in 1978 SC 1296, which has subsequently been followed in the cases of Rohtas Industries v Bihar State Electricity Board, reported in AIR 1984 SC 657, Kerala State Electricity Board v M/s S N Govind Prabhu & Brothers, reported in AIR 1986 SC 1999, and Shri Sitaram Sugar Company Ltd. V Union of India, reported in (1990) 3SSC 223. The appellants state that the Learned counsel for the appellants tried to impress upon us stating that the report of the three- man Committee is unsatisfactory and has not taken into account various grievances of the petitioners. The learned single Judge in his order has observed as follows:- “In the light of the aforementioned judgments when it is found by this Court that there is 7 absolutely nothing to show in the present case that the rate of interest charged either by the State Government or by the HUDCO from the Housing Board as projected and placed by the Housing Board before three men committee were incorrect or the price so fixed was based on any irrelevant consideration of any extraneous impermissible component of price. As a matter of fact the permissibility of taking into account the higher rate of interest of HUDCO was specifically approved by this Court in the order dated 20.11.1995 in CWJC No. 2724 of 1994. Thus it can not be even remotely established much less proved by the petitioners that the impugned decision of the Committee was in teeth of the directions of this Court.” 2. We entirely agree with the observations of the learned single Judge. We do not find any merit in this appeal. It is accordingly dismissed. No costs. ( S K Katriar ) ( S P Singh ) mrl