HC sets aside memo rejecting war veteran’s prayer for house site

The Telangana High Court directed the State government to allot 300 square yards of house site to a septuagenarian war veteran P. Seetaramaraju in any of the municipal areas in the State within three months. 

Justice N.V. Shravan Kumar, disposing of a writ petition filed by the ex-serviceman, said the petitioner cannot seek allotment of house site at a place of his choice. It should be made strictly in accordance with law, the order said. 

The judge also set a side a memo issued by the State government on July 24 of 2014 rejecting the war veteran’s claim for allotment of house site on the ground that he belonged to West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. He joined the Indian Army on January 23 of 1970 as Havaldar. During the Indo-Pakistan war in 1971, he sustained injuries. He was medically boarded out of service nearly four years later. 

In 1993, the then government of undivided A.P. State issued GO Ms. No. 1181 for allotment of house sites to war widows of reference personnel and physically challenged ex-servicemen. Seetharamaraju also applied for house site. With no positive response from the authorities, he moved the HC in 2002 which directed the government to consider his case within three months. 

As there was no action by the authorities, a year later the war veteran filed a contempt of court case. The HC closed it after instructing officials to allot him house site of 300 square yards of land as recommended by the Balanagar Mandal Revenue Officer of Rangareddy district. While the legal battle continued, the Rangareddy District Collector in 2014 issued a memo rejecting the claim of the ex-serviceman for allotment of house site as he originally hailed from West Godavari of A.P. 

In response to this, the petitioner also submitted a certificate issued by the Sainik Welfare Officer of Rangareddy, Medchal and Vikarabad districts in which his permanent address was mentioned as Kukatpally of Rangareddy district. The memo rejecting the ex-serviceman’s claim solely on the ground of nativity cannot be sustained, the judge said passing final order.