Narender Kumar vs State of H.P and Others

Deepak Gupta, J.—The Petitioner by means of this writ petition has prayed that he may be permitted to rejoin duties and the Respondents be directed to accept his joining report as JBT teacher on contract basis.

Briefly stated the facts of the case are that the Petitioner was appointed as JBT teacher on contract basis in Government Primary School, Siluk at Kaza on 13.10.1998. This is a remote tribal area of the State. He worked as such till about March, 2002. The Petitioner unfortunately fell down and his right leg was fractured. He applied for

leave but such leave was not sanctioned since according to the State, a contract teacher is not entitled to leave. It has also come on record that during this period, the wife of the Petitioner suffered from a serious heart ailment and underwent heart surgery in the year 2003. The applicant went to rejoin at the school on 1.1.2004 but his joining was not accepted. He thereafter, met various officials. He then filed an Original Application before the Tribunal which was directed to be treated as a representation. This representation was rejected by the Principal Secretary (Education) for the following reasons:

It is indeed true that the Applicant has gone through difficult times with personal injury to himself and also ailment of his wife. Such unfortunate events indeed had not allowed him to continue to work and therefore he had requested for leave. However, the contractual arrangement under which he was working does not allow for leave on medical ground or on ground of ailment of family members. The rules on the subject do not allow for leave of any kind. In these circumstances the application is rejected.

In my view, the approach of the Secretary is pedantic and very technical and not at all sympathetic to a person who served in a remote tribal area and could not function due to the fact that he initially suffered a fracture and then his wife suffered from a heart ailment.

This Court time and again is coming across cases where employees are refusing to work in these far flung areas of the State. This is not a case where the employee has tried to run away from the hard area and avoided discharging his duties in the school situated in a far flung area but it was due to the personal injury suffered by Petitioner and the serious heart ailment of his wife that he could not attend the classes for about more than one year. These were the factors beyond his control and he should not be punished for the same.

Sh. Bhuvnesh Sharma, learned Counsel for the Petitioner submits that the Petitioner who is out of job is willing to work at any station in Himachal Pradesh.

Keeping in view the fact that the Principal Secretary (Education) himself has found that the Petitioner has gone through a torrid time and has suffered a lot due to his personal injury and due to the ailment of his wife and also the fact that the Petitioner is willing to work in any school in Himachal Pradesh, I hereby direct that in case any vacancy of contract JBT teacher is available in any tribal area in Himachal Pradesh, the Petitioner shall be offered appointment to serve in that school latest by 31.3.2011. It is however, made clear that

the Petitioner shall serve at such station for at least three years before claiming any further benefits. It is also made clear that this order has been passed in the peculiar facts of the case and shall not be treated as a precedent in any other case.

The petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms. No order as to costs.