SHASHI KANT Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner complains that the demand for the payment of a penal rent of Rs. 4,36,301/- made from him vide letter dated January 21, 2000 is wholly arbitrary and unfair. He alleges that the action of the respondents in levying penal rent at fifty times the actual is wholly arbitrary and unfair. He prays that the orders dated January 21, 2000 and January 3, 2000, copies of which have been produced as Annexures P-21 and P-22 be quashed.

(2.) The paper-book is voluminous. However, the facts lie within a very narrow compass. The petitioner is a member of the Haryana Civil Medical Service, Class I. He was posted as a Deputy Medical Superintendent at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak. On June 6, 1997, the petitioner was transferred from the post of Deputy Medical College Superintendent to the post of Sr. Medical Officer, Community Centre, Mudlana. In pursuance to his transfer, the petitioner was relieved from the office of Deputy Medical Superintendent on June 16, 1997. Within two months, by order dated August 14, 1997, the petitioner was posted as District School Medical Officer, Rohtak.

(3.) During his tenure at the Medical College, the petitioner had been allotted official accommodation No. 2/7J. On his transfer from Medical College to the General Cadre, the petitioner had to vacate the premises. The Deputy Commissioner, Rohtak issued a communication dated February 10, 1998 by which he requested the Director of the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak to allow the petitioner to retain the house