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CASE NO.:

Appeal (civil) 2272 of 1998

PETITIONER:

State of Orissa & Ors

RESPONDENT:

Gopinath Dash & Ors

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 09/12/2005

BENCH:

ARIJIT PASAYAT & TARUN CHATTERJEE

JUDGMENT:

J U D G M E N T

ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.

Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment rendered by

a Division Bench of the Orissa High Court holding that the

policy decision taken by the State in the matter of

allotment of quarters by rotation basis was illegal.

Adumbrated in brief the factual background as projected

by the appellants is as follows:-

An executive order was passed by the Deputy Inspector

General of Police vide his D.O. letter No.4322/SAP in

furtherance of a policy decision that quarters were to be

allotted to all the Orissa State Armed Police Personnel for

a minimum period of three years. This order was passed

keeping in view the dearth of family accommodation which at

the relevant point of time was an acute problem for the

Orissa State Armed Policy Battalion. It was also done with

a view to ensure that every police personnel enjoyed the

facility of rent-free accommodation and that is why it was

done on rotational basis. The practice had continued

uninterruptedly for a long time. Military police

establishments normally function in a separate camp where

provisions are made for all the personnel to be given

residential accommodation. Therefore, the system was

developed to ensure that the employees are provided with

quarters for a given period and after completion of that

period they are required to vacate the quarters. This would

enable other employees who are deprived of quarters can get

quarters so vacated. Contractual agreements were entered

into between the employer and the employees when they were

given government accommodation. Questioning legality of the

orders the respondents along with one Kirtan Behari Swain

who has expired in the mean time filed an Original

Application before the Orissa Administrative Tribunal (in

short ’the Tribunal’). The same was registered as OA No.

758/1989. Challenge in the application was to the system of

allotment of quarters by rotation. Subsequently, another

application was filed challenging the system of allotment of

quarters. The same was numbered as OA 1250 of 1991. The

Tribunal dismissed OA No.758/1989 holding that it had no

jurisdiction to consider the matter as the same was a

dispute related to allotment of quarters which is not

covered by the Special Accommodation Rules as provided in

the Orissa Service Code (in short ’Service Code’). In

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Original Application No.1250/1991 after appreciating that

the rotational system of allotment of quarters was in the

interest of the employees, the Tribunal dismissed the

application in view of the dismissal of the other Original

Application. It was held that since quarters were allotted

by contractual allotments, the Special Accommodation Rules

do not apply. Thereafter 21 persons filed writ petition

before the High Court which was registered as O.J.C No.6383

of 1992. One of the writ petitioners was Panchu Sahu who

was also one of the applicants in O.A. No. 1250/1991. After

dismissal of O.A. No. 758/1989, the applicants before the

Tribunal filed writ petition O.J.C. No.3193 of 1992. The

writ petition No. 6383/1992 was dismissed as withdrawn on

7.7.1994. It was noticed by the Division Bench that since

the Bench was not inclined to entertain the writ petition,

the writ-petitioners wanted to withdraw the petition. In

writ petition no. O.J.C. 3193/1992 the High Court by its

impugned judgment dated 8.8.1996 held that the policy

decision of allotment of quarters on rotational basis was

contrary to and inconsistent with justness and fair-play.

In support of the appeal, learned counsel for the

appellants submitted that the approach of the High Court is

c