Once again the High Court strikes down discrimination by Haryana Urban Development Authority in plot allotment based on ranks

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has once again held that there should be no discrimination based upon military ranks while deciding eligibility of defence personnel for plot allotment by Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).

For those who are not aware, HUDA allows defence applicants to apply for sizes of plots depending upon the rank held by such applicants. This seems odd, since HUDA is not a military organisation and neither is the allotment in a military or official environment where any such hierarchy is required to be maintained. In fact, in my own opinion, there might be persons holding lower ranks having the financial means to apply and own larger plots whereas there might be cases of officers who may not be having the means and would want to own smaller plots, and hence, putting shackles on eligibility based upon rank and that too by a civilian organisation, may not be apt. Eligible applicants should have been allowed to own plots based upon their financial means and there ideally should have been no classification within the reserved category of defence personnel.

The sad part however is that even in the past, the High Court had passed similar orders which were upheld by the Supreme Court but till date the authorities concerned have not amended the policy in line with the decisions.