Raju Singh vs Secretary And Anr

The applicant herein is a casual employee of Taurus Officers Institute, Delhi Cantt. This is a private Institute of Army officers and for various activities therein, certain casual employees are engaged. The applicant was engaged on 24.11.1998 and has been continuing and claims that he is still continuing as a casual employee. Some of the casual employees of this Institute are allowed to stay in a temporary accommodation attached with the Institute. The applicant is also staying in one such accommodation since 24.11.1998. The said Institute is managed by Mess Secretary, who is a serving Army Officer.

Vide orders dated 11.10.2018 the Mess Secretary had issued a letter to applicant, which reads as under:

"1. It is to inform you that you have occupied temporary accommodation of HQ Delhi Area Officers Mess. HQ Delhi Area Officers Mess employees are staying outside/their own arrangement and needs to be allotted accommodation inside the Mess.

Further your married children are also staying with you in the said accommodation which is not in order.

As per directions, you are hereby asked to vacate temporary accommodation occupied by you within 30 days from issue of this letter i.e., 10 November 2018."

2.1 The applicant is aggrieved with the issue of this letter and had agitated and preferred the instant OA, seeking the following relief:

"(a) To quash the order dated 11.10.2018 passed by the Secretary, Delhi Area Officer Mess, Delhi Cantt-10 under which cancelled the Temporary Govt married accommodation allotted to the applicant."

Interim relief not to take any coercive action against the applicant was also prayed for. In the hearing of 06.11.2018, interim relief was granted.

The applicant pleads that his son, namely Shri Sunil Kumar is also working as a casual waiter in the same Taurus Officers Institute and in support of the same, he has attached a photocopy of identity card No.1003/2015. The applicant had also attached a Serving-cum-Address Certificate, which indicates that he is staying in one such servant quarter attached to the said Institute, along with his wife Smt. Suseela and son Shri Sunil.

The applicant pleads that he has been issued orders on 11.10.2018 to vacate the said accommodation even without issuing any show cause notice. It is also pleaded that he being a civilian employee, he can be asked to vacate the accommodation only if he is transferred or the Estate Officer issues a notice as Mess Secretary is not competent to issue any such notice..

On being queried, it was clarified that applicant continues to work as a casual employee of Taurus Officers Institute.

Per contra, the respondents opposed the OA and pleaded that no allotment letter was ever issued to the applicant and he is only a casual employee of Taurus Officers Institute which is a private Institute for Army Officers. Some of the casual employees of the said Institute have been allowed to occupy the temporary accommodation attached with the Institute, but this confers no right.

6.1 It was further pleaded that the applicant is staying in said accommodation with his married son, who is not dependent on him and such co-habitation is not in order.

6.2 It was also pleaded that several other casual employees of Area Officers Mess have been making complaints against the behaviour of applicant and his family members. Specific attention was drawn to such complaints made by Shri Kalpnath, Mali, Shri Ajay Kumar, washerman, Shri Manoj Kumar, Shri Bablu Kumar, safai karamchari and Shri Sonu Kumar on 24.09.2018 to the Mess Secretary, bringing out the nuisance that has been created by the applicant and his family members.

6.3 It was only after such large number of complaints and large number of people cohabiting with applicant which was not in order, that the Management decided to get the accommodation vacated and accordingly letter dated 11.10.2018 was issued.

The matter has been heard at length. Shri J.R. Rana, learned counsel represented the applicant and Shri Y.P. Singh, learned counsel represented the respondents.

It appears that as a welfare measure for serving Army officers certain temporary accommodation has been made available to be used as Area Officers Mess as well as for Taurus Officers Institute. Further, for carrying out various activities in the Institute, certain casual employees are also engaged and applicant is one such casual employees.

8.1 It further appears that some of the casual employees have also been allowed to stay in the temporary accommodation attached with the Institute and the applicant is staying in one such accommodation.

8.2 This being a private Institute, it is being managed by the Mess Secretary who is a serving Army Officer. On being queried to the applicant's counsel, he mentioned that there is neither any appointment letter issued nor any allotment letter issued for the accommodation to the applicant.

In keeping with this, the plea that Mess Secretary is not competent to issue the impugned letter is not accepted. Since entire Mess and Institute is managed by him, the issuance of letter under his signature cannot be faulted.

It does appear that several other employees have made large number of complaints to the Management against the problem created by applicant and his family members. However, it is considered appropriate that one show cause notice needs to be issued to the applicant to submit his defence, if any, and a view needs to be taken by the Respondent No.1 after taking such representation into account. This has not been done so far.

In view of the foregoing, the orders dated 11.10.2018 are set aside. In case the respondents are of the view that continuous presence of the applicant in the said temporary accommodation is not acceptable, a show cause notice be issued to the applicant within a period of 15 days of receipt of a certified copy of this order. The applicant be granted 15 days time thereafter to reply to the same. The respondents shall take this reply into account and pass a reasoned and speaking order within a period of one month thereafter. No costs.