KRISHNA SINGH Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is a Fireman in the Fire Services Department of Uttarakhand who is presently posted at Fire Station, Ranikhet, District Almora. He was appointed on 14.12.2007 and since then he has been posted at Ranikhet. He is not given the House Rent Allowance. Hence, aggrieved, he filed the present writ petition. The petitioner is admittedly staying in the Fire Station itself and is residing in "barracks" in the fire station premises, and not with his family.

(2.) IN the counter affidavit, the respondents state that there are not enough government accommodations and, therefore, the petitioner cannot be given government accommodation. Yet there is no reason given as to why House Rent Allowance is not given to the petitioner. Merely because the petitioner is staying in the barrack would not mean that he has been allotted a government accommodation and hence he is not liable for House Rent Allowance, as a barrack is not a place which can be considered an "official accommodation," for the purposes of dispensing with House Rent Allowance. Moreover, the present respondents, if they are denying the House Rent Allowance to the petitioner on the ground that he is staying in a barrack are always at liberty to ask the petitioner to search for an alternative accommodation outside the fire station, but presently denial of House Rent Allowance does not seem to be justified.

(3.) LET the needful be done within six weeks from the date of production of a certified copy of this order. No order as to costs.