V. K. SINGHAL, J. ( 1 ) THE petitioner is aggrieved by the letter dated 16-8-1990 issued by the Commissioner of Income-tax stating that investment in flats is not in consonance with Rules 68 and 69 of the Income-tax Rules. ( 2 ) RULE 68 of the Income-tax Rules has contemplated the circumstancesby which withdrawals may be permitted by the trustees of the provident fund. One such circumstance is to meet the expenditure on building a house, or purchasing a site or a house or a house and a site. ( 3 ) ACCORDING to the Commissioner of Income-tax the word 'building'would not cover the 'flat'. 'flat' has been defined in the Law Lexicon as under:"flat. In the ordinary use of the term a flat is a self-contained set of rooms, structurally divided and separately owned or let from the rest of a building, which for the most part consists of other flats separated in like manner. Formerly a flat would commonly comprise an entire storey of floor, but the increased size of modern buildings has rendered this less usual. The word is one of popular use without any legal significance. The rule is to construe the word in the popular rather than in the technical legal sense and in accordance with the general object indicated by the context". The word "house" has been defined as under:"house a place of dwelling or habitation: also a family or household. "a hundred years ago there was not much difficulty in saying what was a 'house', but builders and architects have so altered the construction of houses, and the habits of people have so altered in relation to them, that 'house' has acquired an artificial meaning and the word is no longer the expression of a simple idea. To ascertain its meaning one must understand the subject-matter with respect to which it is used in order to arrive at the sense in which it is employed in a statute" (per Halsbury, C. , Grant v lanston ). "formerly houses were built so that each house occupied a separate site, but in modern times a practice has grown up of putting separate houses one above the other. They are built in separate flats or storeys; but for all legal and ordinary purposes they are separate houses. "formerly houses were built so that each house occupied a separate site, but in modern times a practice has grown up of putting separate houses one above the other. They are built in separate flats or storeys; but for all legal and ordinary purposes they are separate houses. Each is separately let and separately occupied and has no connection with those above or below, except in so far as it may derive support from those below instead of from the ground, as in the case of ordinary houses" (per Jessel, M. R. Yorkshire Insrce v Clayton), cited with approval by Halsbury, C. , and Ld. Brampton in Grant v Lanston ". The word "house" has been defined in 'words and phrases' as:"house", within constitutional protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, may include business office, store, hotel room, apartment, automobile or occupied taxicab Lanza v State of N. Y. A house is a structure intended or used for human habitation, especially a human habitation which is fixed in place and is intended for the private occupation of a family or families. Simmons v State ". ( 4 ) THE words 'building' and 'flat' have not been defined in the Income-tax Rules. The meaning which is given in the common parlance has to be ascertained. With the growth of civilization and more particularly in recent years in the cities instead of constructing independent building to be used a house the concept of multistoreyed flat has been developed. The structure intended for human habitation having its place and intended for the occupation of a family has been defined as a 'house'. This purpose is achieved by an independent house as well as flat. The vertical growth lead to multistoreyed construction of buildings where independent flats are constructed for human habitation. It may be one flat or one storey or number of flats in a storey. Flat could be covered by the word 'house' and therefore the interpretation which the Commissioner of income-tax has taken could not adhere to be in accordance with the rules. Accordingly, the letter dated 16-8-1990 is quashed and writ petition is allowed. --- *** --- .