Government housing is not for gift or philanthropy: Supreme Court

- Displaced people of any state cannot be given priority over the millions of citizens who do not have a roof over their heads. Government accommodation is provided only temporarily for a short period of time.

New delhi date. Friday, August 13, 2021

Ordering a Kashmir-origin and retired intelligence officer to vacate government accommodation, the apex court said the accommodation was for serving staff, not for philanthropy or gifts to retired staff. After retiring in 2006, he lived in civilian government housing. He said he could not return until the situation in Kashmir returned to normal.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had allowed him to stay in government accommodation but the Center had filed an application against the order which was accepted and the High Court order was quashed. A bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice AS Bopanna said that by October 31, the retired officer would vacate the government accommodation at Faridabad and hand over its possession to the government.

At the same time, the central government has been asked to take action against the employees and officials living in government accommodation even after retirement and submit its report by November 15. The court made it clear that no one could be given government housing to live in forever.

The officer, who retired in October 2006, applied to his department to allow him to stay for one year. In a second application in June 2007, he said he would be allowed to stay in the accommodation for a nominal fee. He was given a notice to vacate the accommodation but it was decided to evict him as it was being ignored. They then brought a stay from a district court in Delhi. The department had objected to it as it was not an issue of jurisdiction of the Delhi court. Due to this, the man withdrew the case from Delhi and filed it in the Faridabad court where it was quashed. This time he applied to the Punjab and Chandigarh High Court but was also dismissed by a single judge.

What the Supreme Court said

- The spirit of compassion, no matter how true, does not give a retired person the right to occupy government housing. The situation in Jammu and Kashmir is dire, but it is not the responsibility of the government to arrange government accommodation for the individual.

- Retired people take all the benefits of retirement, they cannot be considered in a position to be provided housing by the government forever.

- Displaced people of any state cannot be given priority over the millions of citizens who do not have a roof over their heads. Government accommodation is provided only temporarily for a short period of time.

- The person is not even a very poor class traveler, he has been in a high position in the bureaucracy. It is misleading to say that he will return to his state when the situation returns to normal.