LAWS(DLH)-2007-10-71

RAHUL RISHI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

Decided On October 05, 2007
RAHUL RISHI Appellant
V/S
UNION OF INDIA Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition purports to have been filed in public interest for the following reliefs:

(2.) THE petitioner, it is evident from the above, seeks conferment of ownership rights in respect of Government officers flats on those occupying such flats. He argues that the allottees of Government accommodation are entitled to claim ownership over the flats allotted to them on the analogy of similar allotments and ownership rights conferred on occupants of shops in different shopping complexes. That submission is, in our opinion, misconceived to say the least. THE petitioner does not have any locus standi to espouse the cause of government employees who are occupying the flats allotted to them while they are in service. Such Government servants cannot be said to be belonging to a disadvantaged section of society whose cause needs to be espoused by any public activist leave alone by the petitioner who claims to be a businessman dealing in car accessories. If the Government servants have any claim to make over the official accommodation allotted to them, they could in their own right do so. THE fact that they have not done so shows that the petitioner is trying to be more loyal to them than they themselves. That apart, the very basis for claiming ownership rights qua the flats allotted to the Government servants, appears to be totally misconceived. Just because the Government provides accommodation to a government servant while he is in service as a concession to him to facilitate the discharge of his official functions does not mean that the arrangement can be perpetuated or the flat transferred to him for good by conferment of ownership rights over the same. Residential accommodation, especially in prime areas in Delhi, is scarce. It is inconceivable how the government can possibly keep on distributing such scarce resource for no better reason than the fact that they are temporary allottees of such accommodation. In the circumstances, this writ petition deserves to be dismissed with heavy costs but keeping in view the fact that the petitioner has no earlier record of having indulged in any such frivolous litigation, we refrain from imposing any cost in the present case. Dismissed.