ORDER

1. This appeal has been preferred by the appellants against the judgment and order dated 14.3.1997 passed by the Division Bench of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court by which Letters Patent Appeal (OWP) No.50 of 1997 against the judgment and order of the learned Single Judge dated 24.1.1997 passed in OWP Nos.139, 339 and 621 of 1995 has been dismissed.

2. The facts and circumstances giving rise to this case are that the appellants are Kashmiri Pandits and had been in employment of the State Government. They had been allotted residential accommodation at Jammu in 1989-90 being the Government servants.

3. The houses of the appellants were either destroyed or burnt down by the militants in the valley. The appellants were permitted to retain their respective accommodation at Jammu for safety reasons though they had retired and had no right to continue in possession of their respective accommodation and the accommodation could have been allotted to other government employees who were waiting in the queue. However, such a step was considered necessary by the State Government as the atmosphere was not congenial for the appellants to move in the valley. More so, they had lost their resp