The Supreme Court of India has made another significant ruling, this time regarding the entitlement of government employees to claim House Rent Allowance (HRA) when staying in rent-free accommodation allotted to their parents. The court upheld a HRA recovery notice against an appellant, an Inspector (Telecom) in the Jammu and Kashmir Police, who had claimed Rs 3,96,814 as HRA for staying in a house allotted to his retired father. The court stated that under the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (House Rent Allowance and City Compensation Allowance) Rules, 1992, HRA cannot be claimed by a retired father upon superannuation. The appellant was issued a recovery notice after failing to prove that the house in question was not in his possession. The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh had previously rejected the challenge to the recovery notice. The Supreme Court concluded that the appellant, as a government employee, could not have claimed HRA while sharing rent-free accommodation allotted to his retired father. [1f772909] [b2f9abb0]
In another ruling related to government employees, the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh at Srinagar has declared that pension is considered "property" protected under Article 31(1) of the Constitution. Justice M. A. Chowdhary emphasized that any infringement upon pension rights constitutes a breach of this constitutional provision. The case involved Mohammad Shafi, a retired Sanitary Inspector, whose pensionary benefits were in jeopardy due to administrative discrepancies. The court quashed the communications challenging Shafi's entitlement to pensionary benefits and directed the government to release the benefits based on his last-held position. [1deee6e6]