- (1.) An interesting yet ticklish issue has been raised in the present petition as to whether the husband of an estranged wife is entitled to House Rent Allowance (hereinafter referred to as HRA) when the wife has been allotted accommodation by her employer which is a nationalised bank.
(2.) The undisputed facts in the present case are as follows: The respondent is employed as the Assistant Personnel Officer in Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, (referred to as VECC hereafter) Department of Automatic Energy. His wife had obtained a residential accommodation from her office, that is, a Public Sector Bank in Kolkata. He, informed the authorities concerned accordingly and thereafter the HRA which was being paid to him was discontinued as per his request with effect from 1st June 2009. The respondent claims that he has instituted a suit in the Family Court in Visakhapatnam for a decree of judicial separation under Section 10 of the Hindu Marriage Act. This suit has been filed on 3rd March 2010, two years after the marriage. On 11th March 2010 the respondent requested his employer to pay him HRA as he was no longer residing with his estranged wife. By a letter dated 14th May 2010 the respondent was informed that his prayer for the release of HRA could not be entertained as his wife had been allotted accommodation. He was also informed that unless there was a decree of divorce or judicial separation the respondent was not entitled to HRA.
(3.) Being aggrieved by this decision, the respondent preferred Original Application 685 of 2011 before the Central Administrative Tribunal Kolkata Bench. The respondent claimed in his application that the petitioner should be directed to pay HRA to him along with arrears with effect from March 2010 till the "Matrimonial Suit" was disposed of by the Court and further for quashing the order dated 14th May 2010 by which he was denied his prayer for HRA.;