MANJU SINGH Vs. BIHAR STATE HOUSING BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this writ petition, the petitioner is aggrieved by the demand contained in letter dated 23.12.1997 (Annexure 8), issued by the Revenue Officer of the Bihar State Housing Board, Patna to the Executive Engineer of the Board at Gaya, pursuant to which she is required to pay a further sum of Rs. 1,72,942/- in addition to the amount which has already been paid by her as the price of M.I.G. House No. M.H. 13 at Gaya allotted to her.

(2.) IN short, the relevant facts are that on 28.12.1976, the petitioner filed an application for allotment of M.I.G. house in pursuance of the advertisement. On 3.9.1983, lottery for the said purpose was held by the respondent Board and the petitioner was allotted the house in question, about which she received intimation, vide letter dated 3.9.1983, contained in Annexure 2. Pursuant to the said letter, she received the allotment letter dated 3.9.1983, contained in Annexure 3 also, whereby she was required to deposit a sum of Rs. 13,560/- being 20% of the tentative price of the house and to deposit the remaining amount of Rs. 54,200/- in 120 equal monthly instalments of Rs. 452/- without interest and Rs. 502/-with interest if paid after 7th of the respective months. IN pursuance of the said allotment letter, the petitioner deposited Rs. 13,560/-. However, the Hire Purchase Agreement was entered by the Board only on 23.3.1985, vide Annexure 4, whereafter the possession of the house in question was delivered to the petitioner on the same day, vide Annexure 5. The petitioner has annexed a photocopy of the details of payment made by her issued by the Executive Engineer of the Board, contained in Annexure 6, from which it is evident that the entire payment was made with due interest on account of delayed payment for certain period. The last payment was made on 12th February, 1996. However, after lapse of long time of the order of allotment and pursuant to which full payment has also been made, the impugned letter has been issued with a copy of it to the petitioner by the Revenue Officer of the Board.

(3.) LEARNED Counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the impugned demand is wholly arbitrary and has been issued in mala fide exercise of the power for the reasons best known to the authority concerned. The petitioner has already made all the payments in terms of the allotment letter well within time with interest for the period where there was delay in payment of the instalment as per the terms of the order of allotment. It is submitted that the allegation of the Board that there was delay in the hands of the petitioner in execution of the agreement is wholly baseless and mala fide. On the contrary, the petitioner kept on approaching the Board to get the agreement executed, but no step was taken by the authority of the Board for execution of the agreement even though the petitioner deposited the initial amount of 20% well within time as is also evident from the agreement, contained in Annexure 4.