MANJU SATHI Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present writ petition has been filed for directing the respondent authorities of the Bihar State Housing Board to register Plot no. HP-142, situated at Sadha, Chhapra in the name of the petitioner who is the widow of Late Kamla Kant Sathi in whose name, the said plot was allotted on 8/11/1996.

(2.) The brief facts of the case, according to the petitioner, are that the deceased husband of the petitioner had applied for allotment of Plot at Sadha, Chhapra, whereafter he was allotted Plot no. HP-142 on 8/11/1996, however he unfortunately died on 4/11/1998. The petitioner is stated to have gone to the office of the Land Estate Officer of the respondent- Bihar State Housing Board to inform about the death of her husband and had requested for transferring the said Plot in her name, however the agreement qua the said Plot in question could not be executed. Subsequently, the Land Estate Officer, Bihar State Housing Board, Patna vide letter dtd. 22/8/2017 informed the petitioner that pursuant to the death of the original allottee, the said land in question i.e. Plot no. HP-142 is being transferred in the name of the petitioner, subject to fulfillment of all the terms and conditions which were applicable upon the previous allottee. It is the further case of the petitioner that the husband of the petitioner had deposited a sum of Rs.31,744.00 for the Plot in question, however till date, the respondent- Housing Board has failed to register the Plot in question in the name of the petitioner.

(3.) A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of respondents no. 2 to 4, wherein the respondent- Housing Board has taken a stand that the said Plot no. HP-142 situated at Sadha, Chhapra was allotted to the deceased husband of the petitioner namely Kamala Kant Sathi vide letter dtd. 8/11/1996, issued by the Bihar State Housing Board at a tentative price of Rs.1,23,480.00. It has been stated that Clause 4(a) of the aforesaid Allotment Order contained in Letter no. 112 dtd. 8/11/1996 clearly stipulates that the amount, as given in Clause 4 i.e. a sum of Rs.31,744.00, has to be deposited within 30 days from the date of order of allotment and the allottee should get the agreement executed within 60 days of the allotment order. The said allotment order further specifies that if the allottee fails to either deposit the amount within 30 days or get the agreement executed within 60 days i.e. till 31/12/1996 then it will be understood that the allottee does not require the plot/ land and the allotment shall be automatically cancelled and 20% of the deposited amount shall be confiscated. The allottee died on 4/11/1998 but the Head Office of the Board and the Divisional Office of the Board, not being aware of the death of the Original allottee, vide Letter no. 1183 dtd. 8/3/1999 and Letter no. 281 dtd. 17/3/1999, asked the original allottee to complete the formalities with respect to execution of the agreement and get the agreement registered within 30 days. The said letters were sent by the Executive Engineer, Muzaffarpur Division in the name of the original allottee. It is further stated that the aforesaid payment was made belatedly by the petitioner on 31/12/1996 i.e. much later than the date fixed, as stipulated in Clause 6 of the said Allotment Order. Thereafter, the petitioner had submitted incomplete documents for change of name in her favour with respect to the said land in question, however, the requisite and complete documents came to be submitted by the petitioner only in the year, 2017, whereafter, the respondent-Board vide letter dtd. 22/8/2017 changed the name in favour of the petitioner, however with a stipulation that the terms and conditions which were applicable to the original allottee, will also be applicable upon the petitioner.