GAJADHAR SINGH Vs. CENTRAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITY FORCE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The grievance of the petitioner in the present writ petition is the action on the part of the respondents in recovering an amount of Rs.1,12,320.00 as penal rent for the government quarter which the petitioner has retained at district Durg beyond the period the petitioner was transferred from Bhilai, District Durg (Chhattisgarh).

(2.) It is a case where the petitioner was working as a Constable under the respondents and was posted at CISF unit at Bhilai Steel Plant, Bhilai, District Durg. He was also allotted a government quarter while posted at Bhilai. Subsequently the petitioner got transferred to Jorhat (Assam) on 31/3/2016. The petitioner during the said period had applied for retention of the said quarter enabling his children to pursue their studies at Bhillai. The said request of the petitioner was acceded and he was permitted to retain the said quarter till 1/2/2017. The petitioner however continued to retain the quarter even beyond that period and subsequently he got transferred from Jorhat to Ranchi (Jharkhand). Even then the petitioner continued retaining the said quarter at Bhilai and ultimately he evicted the quarter on 16/4/2019. That now the respondents have decided to recover penal rent from the petitioner for the period after 1/2/2017 to 16/4/2019 amounting to Rs.1,12,320.00.

(3.) Perusal of pleadings would show that the request of the petitioner for exemption of penal rent have all been rejected by the respondents at all level in the past. Undoubtedly in the instant case the petitioner had got an extension for retention of quarter only uptill 1/2/2017 and beyond that the petitioner was not granted any extension. The fact that he did not get an extension would suggest that the petitioner knew that for the period that he does not have any extension to retain the quarter he will have to pay the market rent or penal rent, as the case may be, and knowingly the petitioner had retained the said quarter for a further period of more than two years.