The Delhi High Court has sought the response of both the Union of India and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) over a petition seeking appropriate government residential accommodations for district court judges of the national capital.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora on May 2 directed the respondents to file their replies in four weeks and listed the matter for further hearing on July 16.
Filed by Judicial Service Association, Delhi, a representative body of Delhi judicial officers, the petition contended that at present, the total working strength of judicial officers in Delhi was 823. However, there were only 347 residential accommodations available in the judicial pool.
It sought directions to the authorities to take appropriate steps and expedite the availability of sufficient number of suitable and appropriate government residential accommodations for occupancy of all Delhi Judicial Service Officers and Delhi Higher Judicial Service Officers.
The plea submitted that around half of the judicial officers in Delhi have not been provided any official residential accommodation. The said statistics clearly showed that the current state of affairs vis-à-vis availability of government accommodations for judicial officers in Delhi was abysmal.
It mentioned the specific directions issued by the Supreme Court of India in 1991 to State governments and the Union government for providing official residential accommodation to all judicial officers.
The plea further submitted that until the state accommodation was available, the government should provide accommodation to judicial officers.
It noted that despite such specific directions passed more than 30 years ago, a large number of judicial officers in Delhi have not been provided any residential accommodation and they were left to fend for themselves, only with the aid of grossly inadequate House Rent Allowance (HRA) and other allowances.
The petition added that the current amount of House-Rent Allowance (HRA) provided was 27 percent of the basic pay of judicial officers.
It said the HRA amount being provided to judicial officers was grossly inadequate, when compared to the market trend and it was impracticable for several judicial officers (especially up to J-5 level) to rent out suitable and appropriate accommodations in the areas surrounding court premises.
Several of these judicial officers had their family to support and it became even more difficult for them to be able to locate suitable and appropriate accommodations inside Delhi.
This was also one of the reasons why many of these judicial officers preferred living in Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad, which caused them huge difficulty in commuting.
It further said that the number of residential accommodations available in the Central Pool and State Pool was far higher than that available in the Judicial Pool.
Until such time that there was sufficient availability of constructed residential accommodations for judicial officers, the judicial officers may be allowed to apply for accommodations under the Central Pool and State Pool, it added.