District Court judges move Delhi High Court seeking government accommodation in capital

The Delhi High Court recently issued notice to the High Court of Delhi, Central and Delhi government on a plea filed by district court judges of the national capital seeking appropriate government residential accommodations [Judicial Service Association, Delhi v Union of India and Ors]..In an order passed on May 2, a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora directed the respondents to file their replies in four weeks and kept the matter for further consideration on July 16..The petition in the High Court has been filed by Judicial Service Association, Delhi, a representative body of the judicial officers of the capital.In its plea, the judges’ association has 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 Services Officers and Delhi Higher Judicial Services Officers.The plea stated that at present, the total working strength of judicial officers in Delhi is 823. However, there are only 347 residential accommodations available in the judicial pool.“Hence, around half of the judicial officers in Delhi have not been provided any official residential accommodation. The said statistics clearly show that the current state of affairs vis-à-vis availability of government accommodations for judicial officers in Delhi is abysmal,” the plea contended..It said that the Supreme Court of India, way back in the year 1991, had issued specific directions to State governments and the Central government for providing official residential accommodation to all judicial officers and further said that until state accommodation is available, the government should provide accommodation to judicial officers.However, despite such specific directions passed more than thirty years ago, a large number of judicial officers in Delhi have not been provided any residential accommodation and the judicial officers are left to fend for themselves, only with the aid of grossly inadequate House Rent Allowance (HRA) and other allowances, the plea stressed.The petition added that the HRA provided by the government to judicial officers in Delhi is grossly inadequate for procuring suitable and appropriate residential accommodations in the city and that is why many of them are living in Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad which causes them huge difficulty in commute.“It is submitted that at present, the HRA provided is 27% of the basic pay of judicial officers. The amount of House-Rent Allowance being provided to judicial officers is grossly inadequate, when compared to the market trend, and it is impracticable for several judicial officers (especially up to J-5 level) to rent out suitable and appropriate accommodations in the areas surrounding court premises. It is further submitted that several of these judicial officers also have their family to support, and it is even more difficult for them to be able to locate suitable and appropriate accommodations inside Delhi,” the plea said.It further said that the number of residential accommodations available in the Central Pool and State Pool are far higher in number than that available in the Judicial Pool. "It is submitted that until such time that there is 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,” the plea stated. .[Read Order]