Grievances on residential accommodation of Judicial officers raised in Bombay High Court; Matter to be considered on administrative side

The Bombay High Court on Thursday stated that grievances pertaining to the residential accommodations of the judicial officers posted in Maharashtra would be considered on the administrative side..The grievances were raised through writ petition filed by the Maharashtra State Judges Association through advocate Tejesh Dande..The association is supposedly the only organisation working for solving issues and difficulties faced by its members at their working place..Being the only organisation working for welfare of Judicial Officers in the Subordinate Judiciary, it came across several complaints from its members about the government accommodations provided to them, the Court was told..Following a survey, the Association stated that it had received “shocking and alarming” feedback which indicated that the Maharashtra government is “not serious about providing suitable and appropriate residential accommodation to judicial officers and the officers were in difficulties”..The grievances received included:That the judicial officers were compelled to accept government quarters of lesser area than their entitlement, based upon their existing pay scale.That due to delay in getting accommodations, the officers were unable to shift their families to the location.That the accommodation alloted was in an extremely pathetic situation, and in some districts, no government quarters are available for judicial officers.There were issues with the rent valuation process of Public Works Department including inordinate delay and difficulties in the reimbursement process of rent for their private accommodations.That PWD also did not respond to complaints of repairs of the accommodations..After hearing advocate Dande briefly, a Bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta directed the registry to place the matter on the administrative side for consideration. .The petition also challenged a Government Resolution (GR) of January 7, 2021 issued by the Maharashtra government on the ground that it was in derogation of the State policy and guidelines laid down by the High Court..The GR was challenged as the area allotted to the officers was far lesser than their entitlement and contrary to prior notifications..A High Court judgment stipulated that the judicial officers were to be provided government quarters with the carpet area, composition and layout as per their entitlement based on their pay scale and cadre..A government notification of 2004 also laid out compliances for allotment of residential quarters to judicial officers..Citing the judgment and notification, the Association prayed for directions to the Maharashtra Government and the Registrar General of High Court for stricter compliance of the guidelines laid out.