The main legal point established in the judgment is the eligibility of widows of APS personnel for registration in housing schemes promoted by AWHO as per the AWHO Brochure.

.1. Late Subedar Ram Dhari Ram, husband of the petitioner, joined Department of Posts as a Postal Assistant on 01.09.1968. He volunteered to serve in the Army Postal Service Corps in the rank of a Warrant Officer on 03.07.1971 and earned his promotions to the rank of a Subedar. Late Subedar Ram Dhari Ram while serving in the Army Postal Service Corps had got his name registered with the Army Welfare Housing Organization (AWHO for short) on 01.05.2005 for allotment of a deluxe apartment at Greater Noida Scheme in Phase III by remitting an amount of Rs. 75,500/- towards the registration fee. He was, however, at Serial No.49 in the waiting list. Subedar Ram Dhari Ram unfortunately met with a fatal road accident while serving in the unit on 13.09.2006. The petitioner was granted family pension with effect from 14.09.2006. Late Subedar Ram Dhari Ram is also survived by his son Dr. Suresh Chand. It is Dr. Suresh Chand who was made a nominee by his deceased father in the Greater Noida Scheme. Dr. Suresh Chand addressed a letter dated 18.01.2007 to the AWHO informing them about the demise of the registrant (his late father). The following queries were also made by Dr.Suresh Chand from AWHO: i) Is there any preference we can get in the allotment; ii) In the Project

.under planning at Greater Noida Phase III, whether waitlisted candidates will get any preference; and iii) What, if anything he can do to get preference for the allotment.

2. It is the case of the petitioner that the AWHO advised Dr.Suresh Chand to withdraw his application for substitution of his name in place of his late father and to obtain refund of the amount deposited with a fresh application being put up in the name of the petitioner as a widow of the deceased Ram Dhari Ram to be considered in the new scheme at Dwarka. No response was sent in writing to the letter of Dr.Suresh Chand dated 18.01.2007 which is a fact borne out from the records of the AWHO.

3. The next communication is a letter dated 29.01.2007 by the AWHO, to the effect that Dr. Suresh Chand was a nominee of his father and certain documents should be forwarded to enable the AWHO to refund the registration fee to him, which documents were duly submitted and the refund was made on 29.03.2007.

4. The petitioner thereafter applied for a fresh registration in Dwarka Scheme on 05.05.2007 in lieu of her late husband Subedar Ram Dhari Ram. This application was, however, rejected by the AWHO under the cover of the letter of June, 2007 on the ground that the widows of Army Postal Service (APS for short) are not eligible.

5. It is the case of the petitioner that there was no such exclusion of the widows of the APS and in that behalf reliance has been placed on para of 12(b)(i) of AWHO Brochure. The said clause 12(b) appears in Chapter II of the brochure dealing with the eligibility conditions and is reproduced below: 12. The following are eligible to apply: (b) Widows of All Ranks (i) Widows who are in receipt of family pension. ii) Widows who re-marry a real brother of their deceased husband and are in receipt of family pension. iii)War widows who re-marry any person and are in receipt of family pension. iv)Widows who re-marry serving army personnel. (emphasis supplied)

6. The petitioner made a representation dated 08.07.2007 to the Quarter Master General pointing out that had her husband not died, he would have participated in the draw and could have got the flat in the Greater Noida Scheme of AWHO and the same would have been the position if he had retired from service in normal course. It was submitted that there was nothing to exclude the widow of such an officer especially when there is three per cent reservation for widows in the allotment of flats of AWHO. Such a reservation is provided in Chapter VI of the brochure of AWHO.

.7. The representation was, however, rejected vide letter dated 10.08.2007. The stand of the respondents in the said letter is that the applicability of wido