The Allahabad High Court has denied relief to a government officer and upheld the recovery of nearly Rs 7.7 lakh in market rent from him after he held on to his Lucknow government residential quarters for over four years despite being transferred to another district. The court also imposed Rs 10,000 in costs, observing that the officer had neither furnished an undertaking to vacate the accommodation by the court-mandated deadline nor actually left the premises on time.

Justices Alok Mathur and Abdhesh Kumar Chaudhary were hearing a petition filed by Vedanand Ojha, who challenged a July 1, order of the Uttar Pradesh State Public Services Tribunal in Lucknow rejecting his claim against the recovery.…