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.
Source: Barandbench
