S.R. SRINIVASA IYENGAR Vs. THE TAMIL NADU STATE GOVERNMENT REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY, HOME DEPARTMENT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioner, Srinivasa Ayyangar, is the owner of door No. 3/98, Vasudevapuram, Triplicane, Madras. The building consists of ground floor and first floor. The petitioner, along with his family, is occupying a portion of the ground floor. The remaining portion of the ground floor has been let out by the petitioner privately to another person. When the first floor fell vacant in the year 1952, the petitioner intimated the vacancy as required under the Madras Buildings (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1949 (Madras Act XXV of 1949) and that portion was taken over by the Government and allotted to certain Government servants. The rent was Rs. 55 per month. When one Jayalakshmi, an allottee, vacated, the petitioner, on 17th July, 1969, applied to the Accommodation Controller, Madras, requesting for the release of the upstairs portion for his own occupation alleging inter alia that he had since retired from service as Assistant Accounts Officer, that his family had increased and that he required the upstairs portion for his own occupation. As the petitioner did not get a reply, he wrote to the Minister concerned on 28th October, 1969.

(2.) The Accommodation Controller submitted a report to the Government regarding the request of the petitioner as directed by the Government and thereupon the Government rejected the request of the petitioner, by order dated 6th December, 1969. This writ petition is filed to quash that order.

(3.) It is contended for the petitioner that the State Government failed to take into consideration relevant circumstances in considering the request of the petitioner, that though the Government were informed by the Accommodation Controller that the petitioner was a vegetarian the Government directed the allotment of the upstairs portion to a non-vegetarian, that in directing this allotment, the Government acted vindictively and that the order of rejection o f the petitioner's application for release is vitiated.