Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has asked state government to inform as to why it has waived off the condition of compulsory domicile certificates for judges, who come from outside the state, and who apply for government housing schemes.
The court also directed that no high-ranking government official, including judges, should be allowed to buy more than one house as part of the government scheme.
The court asked the Advocate General to take instructions from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and kept the petition for hearing on Friday.
A division bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by activist Ketan Tirodkar, which questioned the state government’s decision to construct a high-rise residential building in suburban Oshiwara for sitting High Court judges.
Mr Tirodkar argued that apart from sitting judges, the government also allots flats to judges who retire from the Bombay high court or judges who were earlier here and were later promoted to the Supreme Court. After hearing the arguments of the PIL, Justice Gavai said, “We feel that if a judge or a senior bureaucrat already has a house in the city or state, then he or she should not opt for another house under any government scheme. What is the need?”
The court also questioned the state government’s decision to dilute the condition of domicile even to judges who come from outside the state. The court also remarked that Judges, MLAs and MPs, IAS, IPS officers who already own a house in Mumbai also want houses on Palm Beach at Navi Mumbai, and it should be stopped somewhere. The bench directed Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhkoni to take up the issue with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday, and posted the petition for hearing on Friday.
According to mr Tirodkar’s petition, in August 2015, the government had sanctioned a housing scheme for serving judges on a 32,300 sq ft public plot in Oshiwara, following a request made in this regard by the proposed cooperative housing society of judges.
While the construction is yet to be carried out, the government has offered 84 homes, each of 1,076 sq ft, on ownership basis to the judicial officers. While the government has sanctioned the membership of 39 judges so far, two serving judges have since surrendered their claim.
