S. J. Hyder, J. - (1.) THE dispute in this writ petition relates to a house situated at P. L. Sharma Road, Begum Bagh, in the city of Meerut. THE said house originally belonged to one Ganga Prasad Bhatnagar who died on June 19,1960. THE house was requisitioned under Section 3 of the U. P. (Temporary) Accommodation Requisition Act, 1947, hereinafter referred to as 'the Act', for the residence of one Sita Ram Pandey, Deputy Collector, as far back as the year 1951.
(2.) SUBSEQUENTLY, some of the heirs of Ganga Prasad Bhatnagar transferred the house to one Nand Kishore. The petitioner, who is a practising Advocate at Meerut, alleges that by means of transfer, he has become the owner of the entire house. On behalf of the respondents, namely, the State of U. P. and the District Magistrate, Meerut, it is averred in the counter-affidavit that the petitioner has only acquired 7/8th share in the said house. It is, however, unnecessary to go into this controversy for the purpose of this writ petition. Sri Sita Ram Pandey, Deputy Collector, was transferred from the district and the District Magistrate passed a fresh order of requisition dated 4-9-1973 and delivered possession of the house to Sri Ram Bharosey Lal Sharma, Regional Transport Magistrate, Meerut. In due course, Shri Sharma was also transferred from the district and the District Magistrate, opposite party no. 2, passed an order dated 21st of August, 1976 allotting the accommodation in favour of Sri Alauddin Siddiqui. On the transfer of Sri Alauddin Siddiqui, the District Supply Officer, Meerut, submitted a report to the District Magistrate inter alia, stating that Sri D. C. Jain, Stenographer of the District Magistrate, was living in a house in respect of which he was paying a rent of Rs. 100/- per mensem which was much in excess of his paying capacity and that it would be proper if the house in dispute which carried a lower rent, may be allotted in his name. On this report, the District Magistrate passed a short order in the following words :- "As proposed." In consequence of the above order of the District Magistrate dated 4-12-1976, the accommodation was occupied by Sri D. C. Jain. The retirement of Sri D. C. Jain was due in January, 1980.
(3.) IT may be stated that the petitioner had become a co-sharer in the house in dispute as early as 1974. Since then he had started making applications to the District Magistrate that the accommodation in dispute may be released from requisition and that he may be permitted to occupy the same. As the retirement of Sri D. C. Jain drew nearer, the petitioner made frantic efforts and made repeated applications to the District Magistrate for the said purpose. The petitioner was informed by the District Supply Officer by his order dated 15th of May, 1979 that after considering the entire circumstances, the District Magistrate has reached the conclusion that it was not possible to accede to his request. The petitioner thereupon filed the present writ petition. He claimed the relief that a writ of mandamus be issued to opposite party no. 2 commanding him to hand over vacant possession of the accommodation to the petitioner. He further prayed that a suitable writ, order or direction may be issued to the District Magistrate prohibiting him from making any further order of requisition. In the writ petition, it has been averred that the petitioner is an advocate practising at Meerut since the year 1973 and that he has no accommodation, except the accommodation in dispute, which had been purchased by him for valuable consideration to meet his personal requirements. It is alleged that the order of requisition dated 4-9-1973 passed by the District Magistrate for the residence of Sri Ram Bharosey Lal Sharma had exhausted itself after his transfer in 1976 and the District Magistrate could not allow the accommodation to be occupied by Sri Siddiqui and thereafter by his own Stenographer Sri D. C. Jain. It is further averred that the orders permitting the accommodation to be occupied by Sri Siddiqui and Sri D. C. Jain as well as the order rejecting the petitioner's request for the release of the accommodation are mala fide.;