- (1.) THIS writ application has been on behalf of the petitioners for quashing the orders as contained in letter nos. 816, 781, 777, 791, 797, 795, 804 all dated 18.10.2006 whereby the respondent -Board cancelled the allotment of HIG flats no. 6, 8, 12, 17, 18, 44, 95 and 117 situated at Housing Colony, Hirapur, Dhanbad which had been made in favour of the petitioners illegally and directed the petitioners to vacate the flats.
(2.) THE case of the petitioners is that when respondent -Board invited applications for settlement of unit constructed at Hirapur Housing Colony at Dhanbad, petitioners applied for the allotment of the quarters and also deposited the requisite fees. Thereupon, the aforesaid flats were allotted to the petitioners on deposit of security money of Rs. 750/ - Subsequently, an agreement was executed on 6.9.2006 on which date the petitioners were allowed to occupy the quarters. Since then, all the petitioners were living peacefully Suddenly the petitioners received a letter dated 18.10.2006 as contained in Annexure -3 series whereby it was intimated that allotment has been cancelled as the allotment had been made by the Executive Engineer of the Board who had no authority to do so. The said order as contained in letters dated 18.10.2006 (Annexure -3 series) have been sought to be quashed on the ground that the said order has been passed without affording any opportunity to the petitioners to have their say in the matter. A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the Board stating therein that under the Subsidised Industrial Housing Scheme (in short 'S.I.H.S.'), a Central Government Sponsored Scheme, 144 S.I.H.S. flats were constructed at Dhanbad in the year 1980. All those flats were meant for hire purchase allotment and not for allotment on rental basis. For that purpose an advertisement was published in the newspaper on 13.3.2005 for allotment of 56 flats on hire purchase allotment through lottery whereby applications were invited in prescribed form (to be purchased from the concerned division for Rs. 500/ -) but the then Executive Engineer, Arjun Prasad in connivance with other staff of the Board and with the petitioners allotted quarters in question to the petitioners, who had never put application in proper format nor any document required to be produced with the form had been submitted. The allotment had been made on simple application that too on rental basis though those quarters were meant for hire purchase allotment.
(3.) UNDER that situation, when allotments made to the petitioners were cancelled through letter dated 18.10.2006, one of the allotters, namely, Smt. Somlata preferred a writ application, vide W.P.(C) No. 6220 of 2006 challenging the said letter under which allotment had been cancelled. This Court on 10.11.2006 quashed the order canceling the allotment as that order had been passed without affording any opportunity to the petitioner and therefore, the order was held to be arbitrary and illegal.;