The High Court
Case Details
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK WP(C) No.11957 of 2024 R.damayanti Reddy ..... Petitioner Represented By Adv. - Krishna Chandra Sahu -versus- 1) State Of Odisha 2) Director, Directorate Of Ports And Inland Water Transport 3) Executive Engineer (civil) , Ports And Inland Water Transport, South Division ..... Opposite Parties Represented By Adv. – N.K.Praharaj, A.G.A.
Legal Reasoning
CORAM: THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ADITYA KUMAR MOHAPATRA
Decision
ORDER 14.05.2024 Order No. 01. 1. This matter is taken up through Hybrid Arrangement (Virtual /Physical Mode). 2. On the oral prayer of learned counsel for the petitioner he is permitted to correct the typographical error in the body of the writ application in Court today. 3. Heard learned counsel for the Petitioners as well as the learned Additional Government Advocate for the State Opposite Parties. Perused the Writ Petition as well as the documents annexed thereto. 4. The Petitioners has filed the present writ application with the following prayer: Page 1 of 5. to direct “It is, therefore, prayed that the Hon’ble Court be pleased for providing the Opp.Parties appointment of the petitioner under the R.A. Schemes as per the then prevailing existing provisions/rules on the date of death of the husband of the petitioner by applying as per the provisions of O.C.S. (R.A.) Rules 1990 keeping in view of the above settled position of law within a time bound period for the interest of justice. And may further be pleased to pass any other order(s), direction(s) as deems fit & proper for the bonafide interest of justice.” 5. It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that the present petitioner is the wife of one late R.Gobardhan Reddy. The abovenamed R.Gobardhan Reddy, while working as a Weigh Bridge Operator under the Opposite Party No.3, died in harness on 17.12.2014 leaving behind his legal heirs. As per the legal heir certificate under Annexure-3 to the writ application. After the death of the deceased Government employee initially the present petitioner, who happens to the wife of the deceased Government employee and one of the legal heirs, submitted an application for appointment on compassionate ground. While the application of the petitioner for appointment on compassionate ground was pending the petitioner made a request to the authorities to consider the case of her daughter as she was unable to discharge the duties on the ground of her illness. It was further contended that although the Opposite Party No.3 asked the petitioner to get medical examined by the Competent Medical Board, however no such medically examination could be conducted in the absence of any letter requesting the medical Board to examine the petitioner. In course of his argument learned counsel for the petitioner referred to letter dated 20.04.2018 under Annexure-6 Page 2 of 5. which reveals that the Executing Engineer (Civil) has requested the petitioner to get herself medically examined by the Chairman, District medical Board, Ganjam and to obtain a certificate with regard to her health condition. Pursuant to the aforementioned letter, the petitioner approached the concerned Medical Board, however, the District Medical Board, Ganjam did not examine the petitioner in the absence of any specific letter requesting the District Medical Board to conduct such examination. In the aforesaid factual background learned counsel has approached this Court by filing the writ application for a direction to the Opposite Parties to consider the case of the petitioner for appointment on compassionate ground after complying with the formalities as is required to be observed under the O.C.S. (RA) rules, 1990. In course of his argument learned counsel for the petitioner, by referring to the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court Malaya Nanda Sethy vrs. State of Orissa and others : reported in 2022(II) OLR(SC)-1, State of West Bengal-v.- Debabrata Tiwari reported in (2023 (3) SCALE-557, Suchitra Bal v. State of Odisha and others in W.P.(C) No.2081 of 2021 & batch decided on 27.06.2023, and State of Odisha and others vs. Bindu Sagar Samantaray in W.A.No.810 of 2021. Further, specifically referring to the decision of this Court in Biswajit Swain vs. State of Odisha and others in W.P.(C) No.5214 of 2021 decided on 31.10.2023. He further submitted that since the death of the Government employee occurred in the year 2014 and the application was submitted immediately thereafter and within the period of limitation, such application submitted by the petitioner should have been considered under the O.C.S. (RA) Rules, 1990 as has been Page 3 of 5. enumerated in the abovenoted judgments. 6. Learned Additional Government Advocate on the other hand contended that from the perusal of the documents annexed to the writ application it appears that the application of the petitioner is still pending before the authorities for consideration. In such view of the matter, learned Additional Government Advocate submitted that in the event this Court directs to Opposite Party No.2 to consider the case of the petitioner in accordance with Rules and laws applicable to the facts of the present case, within stipulated period of time then he shall have no objection to the same. 7. Considering such submissions made by the learned counsels appearing for respective parties, on a careful examination of the factual background of the petitioner’s case as well as documents annexed to the present writ application, further, keeping in view the limited nature of grievance involved in the present writ application, this Court deems it proper to dispose of the writ application by directing the Opposite Parties Nos.2 and 3 to consider the application of the petitioner as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of two months from the date of communication of a certified copy of this order by the petitioner. Further, it is clarified that in the event the petitioner is required to undergo any medical examination, the Opposite Party Nos.2 and 3 shall do well to take necessary for examination of the petitioner by the District Medical Board, Ganjam and for the furnishing of a certificate in that regard. Upon getting a certificate of such medical examination the Opposite Parties shall take a final decision in terms of judgment referred to hereinabove and Page 4 of 5. within the time stipulation fixed hereinabove. The final decision so taken by the Opposite Parties be communicated to the petitioner within two weeks from the date of taking such decision. 8. With the aforesaid observation/direction, the writ application stands disposed of. 9. Issue urgent certified copy of this order as per Rules. Rubi ( A.K. Mohapatra ) Judge Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: RUBI BEHERA Reason: Authentication Location: High Court of Orissa, Cuttack Date: 16-May-2024 19:37:01 Page 5 of 5.