diff --git a/school_center.py b/school_center.py
index 40b2f66..89ed29c 100644
--- a/school_center.py
+++ b/school_center.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 from utils.custom_logger import configure_logging
 from typing import Dict, List
-import sys
-import os
+from os import sys, path, makedirs
 import argparse
 import logging
 import random
@@ -14,19 +13,13 @@
 MIN_STUDENT_IN_CENTER = 10      # Min. no of students from a school to be assigned to a center in normal circumstances
 STRETCH_CAPACITY_FACTOR = 0.02  # How much can center capacity be streched if need arises
 PREF_CUTOFF = -4                # Do not allocate students with pref score less than cutoff
+DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIR = 'results'  # Default directory to create output files if --output not provided
+DEFAULT_OUTPUT_FILENAME = 'school-center.tsv'
 
 configure_logging()
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-def create_dir(dirPath: str):
-    """
-    Create the given directory if it doesn't exists
-    - Creates all the directories needed to resolve to the provided directory path
-    """
-    if not os.path.exists(dirPath):
-        os.makedirs(dirPath)
-
 
 def haversine_distance(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2):
     """
@@ -214,7 +207,7 @@ def is_allocated(scode1: str, scode2: str) -> bool:
 parser.add_argument('prefs_tsv', default='prefs.tsv',
                     help="Tab separated (TSV) file containing preference scores")
 parser.add_argument(
-    '-o', '--output', default='school-center.tsv', help='Output file')
+    '-o', '--output', default = DEFAULT_OUTPUT_FILENAME, help='Output file')
 parser.add_argument('-s', '--seed', action='store', metavar='SEEDVALUE',
                      default=None, type=float, 
                      help='Initialization seed for Random Number Generator')
@@ -231,10 +224,28 @@ def is_allocated(scode1: str, scode2: str) -> bool:
 remaining = 0       # stores count of non allocated students
 allocations = {}    # to track mutual allocations
 
-OUTPUT_DIR = 'results/'
-create_dir(OUTPUT_DIR)  # Create the output directory if not exists
-with open('{}school-center-distance.tsv'.format(OUTPUT_DIR), 'w', encoding='utf-8') as intermediate_file, \
-        open(OUTPUT_DIR + args.output, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as a_file:
+
+def get_output_dir():
+    dirname = path.dirname(args.output)
+    if(dirname):
+        return dirname
+    else:
+        return DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIR
+
+def get_output_filename():
+    basename = path.basename(args.output)
+    if(basename):
+        return basename
+    else:
+        return DEFAULT_OUTOUT_FILENAME
+
+
+output_dirname = get_output_dir()
+output_filename = get_output_filename()
+makedirs(output_dirname, exist_ok=True) # Create the output directory if not exists
+
+with open(path.join(output_dirname, "school-center-distance.tsv"), 'w', encoding='utf-8') as intermediate_file, \
+open(path.join(output_dirname, output_filename), 'w', encoding='utf-8') as a_file:
     writer = csv.writer(intermediate_file, delimiter="\t")
     writer.writerow(["scode", 
                      "s_count",