A bench of the Gujarat High Court, led by acting Chief Justice V M Sahai issued notices to 27 judges (both sitting and retired) of the court; the state Revenue Department; and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation among other government agencies, seeking their replies on the 2008 allotment of residential plots to sitting and retired judges, reports Indian Express.
The judges, to whom notices have been sent, include eight sitting Gujarat High Court judges, Chief Justices of Bombay and Orissa High Courts and a sitting judge of Supreme Court.
The court took suo motu notice of two letters written last month by retired judges Justice B J Sethna and Justice K R Vyas alleging irregularities in the allotment and took these up as a PIL. These plots constitute Neetibaug Cooperative Housing Society and are located in the Sola and Gota areas which have emerged as plush neighbourhoods in the city.
According to their petition, the government announced allotment of residential plots to judicial officers in 2003. The government issued a resolution in 2008 announcing allotment of plots in Sola and Gota areas (now considered prime real estate) at concessional rate. Following the resolution, HC registrar general sent a list of 48 judges. However, the government decided to directly deal with the judges for allotment of plots, instead of going through the registrar general. It changed the condition for allotment and constituted a co-operative housing society for this purpose. Incidentally, the government refused to allot plots to some judges claiming they had retired before the scheme was announced, reports Ahmadabad Mirror.
On Monday, HC asked the advocate general to file an affidavit clarifying if in every cooperative society, the government has taken the policy decision that plots will be allotted individually and that one had to be the member of the cooperative society to avail benefits.