By Adnan Rafique
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday restrained the authorities from allotting a government residential house in Sector G-6 to another person or handing over its possession to anyone else until further orders.
Justice Muhammad Azam Khan issued the order while hearing a petition filed by Adnan Majeed Khan, a Grade-20 deputy registrar of the Islamabad High Court, challenging the approval to keep the government accommodation reserved for a particular officer until it became available. The court issued notices to the respondents and sought para-wise comments and replies before the next hearing.
According to the petitioner, reserving government accommodation for a specific individual under the status of “pending until availability” was unlawful. He argued that under the Government Servants (Conduct and other applicable accommodation) rules governing allotments, residential units should be allotted according to seniority on the general waiting list for the relevant category.
The petitioner maintained that the applicable allotment rules did not permit government accommodation to be reserved in advance for a particular individual. He requested that the house be allotted in accordance with the rules once it became available, rather than being kept aside for a designated officer.
He further alleged that the relevant authorities had exceeded their legal powers by approving the reservation. The petition sought a decision on his claim before the house was allotted to anyone else, along with production of the complete original record concerning the accommodation.
The petitioner also requested the court to summon the application, registration details, general waiting list, approval and all related correspondence.
His counsel submitted that the general waiting list was central to the allotment process. He also pointed out that an allottee was required to take possession of a house within 10 days of allotment, while any change of accommodation was subject to specified conditions and approval from the relevant ministry.
Finding the legal questions raised in the petition worthy of consideration, the court ordered that neither allotment of the house nor transfer of its possession could take place until the next hearing.
The court also sought responses from the relevant authorities regarding the practice of keeping government accommodation pending or reserved for specific individuals. Further proceedings are scheduled for October 30.
