High Court
Case Details
WP(C) 905/2013 BEFORE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE L. S. JAMIR Heard Mr. P. K. Talukdar, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner a
Legal Reasoning
s well as Ms. S. Sarma, learned Government Advocate, Assam. The petitioner’s father late Basanta Kumar Nath died in harness on 24.06 .2004, while serving as Supply Checker under the administrative control of the F ood and Civil Supplies Department, Assam. Late Basanta Kumar Nath left behind h is wife, two sons and one daughter. After the death of his father, the petition er applied for appointment on compassionate ground in the office of the responde nt No. 6, as he was qualified for any Grade-III or Grade-IV posts. The applicat ion for compassionate appointment by the petitioner was forwarded to the respond ent No. 2 by the Deputy Commissioner, Food and Civil Supplies, Barpeta, on 28.03 .2005. The Deputy Commissioner, Food and Civil Supplies, Barpeta, had signed th e forwarding letter on 23.02.2005. Thereafter, the Joint Director, Food and Civil Supplies, Assam, had forw arded the petitioner’s application along with the connected documents to the Dep uty Secretary to the Government of Assam, Food and Civil Supplies Department, Di spur, by communication dated 6th April, 2005. As the respondents did not appoin t the petitioner on compassionate ground, he had approached this Court by way of WP(C) No. 6417/2010.
Decision
The said writ petition was disposed of by order dated 05.08.2011, with d irection to the respondent authorities to consider the case of the petitioner on the basis of the guidelines formulated in the case of Faziron Nessa and Ors. -V S- State of Assam and Ors., reported in 2010(4) GLT 340. As no action was taken for placing the case of the petitioner before the District Level Selection Comm ittee (in short, ’DLSC’), the Contempt Petition being Contempt Case(C) No. 308/2 012 against the respondents was instituted by the petitioner. In the said Conte mpt Petition, the respondent Nos. 3 and 4 therein had filed their affidavits sta ting inter-alia that the case of the petitioner could not be considered by the D LSC, Barpeta, on the ground that the petitioner has submitted his application on ly on 12.10.2011 and there is no vacant post in the Department. Accordingly, th e Contempt Petition was disposed of. On perusal of the minutes of the meeting of the DLSC, Barpeta, held on 1 4.09.2012, the petitioner came to know that the respondents had made baseless st atements in their affidavits in the Contempt Case stating that the petitioner ha d submitted his application for appointment on compassionate ground only on 12.1 0.2011. Accordingly, the present writ petition has been filed challenging the im pugned minutes of the meeting of the DLSC held on 14.09.2012. The respondent No. 4 has filed affidavit-in-opposition contesting the wr it petition. I have considered the submissions forwarded by the learned counsel appea ring for the petitioner as well as the learned Government Advocate appearing for the State respondents. On consideration of the materials available on record, it is seen that the petitioner’s father died on 24.06.2004, the application of t he petitioner for appointment on compassionate ground was also signed by the spo nsoring authority on 23.02.2005. This Court is of the considered opinion that t he application of the petitioner for appointment on compassionate ground was mad e within a period of one year as laid down by this Court in the case of Faziron Nessa and Ors. -VS- State of Assam and Ors., reported in 2010(4) GLT 340. A perusal of the communication dated 28.03.2005 by the Deputy Commission er, Food and Civil Supplies, Barpeta, to the Director, Food and Civil Supplies, Assam, would show that the application of the petitioner for appointment on comp assionate ground was forwarded on 28.03.2005. Further, the Joint Director, Food and Civil Supplies, thereafter, had forwarded the application along with the co nnected documents of the petitioner for appointment on compassionate ground to t he Deputy Secretary to the Government of Assam, Food and Civil Supplies Departme nt, Dispur, on 6th April, 2005. A bare perusal of the aforesaid three documents would go to show that wi thout any doubt, the petitioner had made his application well within the stipula ted period of one year for appointment on compassionate ground after the death o f his father on 24.06.2004. While considering the minutes of the meeting of the DLSC, Barpeta, held on 14.09.2012, the DLSC had rejected the application on two grounds:- (i) Non submission of application within one year from the date of death of the Govt. employee (being father of the Applicant) as stipulated in Faziron Ness a case decided on 2nd July, 2010. (ii) ent/Branch. Non existence of vacant post of Grade III or IV in the concerned Departm From a consideration of the application made by the petitioner, as well as the communications of the respondents, it appears that the DLSC had rejected the case of the petitioner without considering all relevant documents inasmuch o ne of the ground for rejection of the petitioner’s application was that it was n ot submitted within one year from the date of death of the government employee. This is not accepted by this Court. In the facts and circumstances of the present case, this Court is of the considered opinion that it would be just and appropriate to direct the DLSC for reconsidering the case of the petitioner keeping in mind that he had made his a pplication for appointment on compassionate ground well within the stipulated pe riod of one year. Accordingly, it is directed that the respondent No. 2 shall place the ca se of the petitioner before the respondent No. 3 within a period of 2 (two) week s from the date of receipt of a certified true copy of the order of this Court a long with his application for compassionate appointment and also the communicati ons dated 28.03.2005 and 06.04.2005 for consideration by the respondent No. 3. The respondent No. 3, thereafter, after giving due weightage to the aforesaid do cuments, shall reconsider the case of the petitioner and pass appropriate orders after considering the vacancy position meant for such appointments within a per iod of 4 (four) months. Accordingly, the impugned minutes of the meeting of the DLSC, Barpeta, h eld on 14.09.2012 is set aside and quashed. With the aforesaid directions, this writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs.