Sanjay Raina vs State of J & K

T.S. Doabia, J.—Counsels heard.

Petition admitted.

The petition is taken up for final disposal with the consent of the parties.

The petitioner seeks appointment on compassionate grounds. He is taking shelter on behalf of the rules known as Jammu and Kashmir

(Compassionate Appointment) Rules of 1994. The facts in brief are as under :

5 The father of the petitioner was working in Govt. Printing Press. He died on 30th July 1975. It is not in dispute that the petitioner's father died in

harness. At the time when the father of the petitioner died, he was a minor. The petitioner's month of birth is July 1970. On becoming eligible for a

Government job, he submitted an application, copy whereof is Annexure R.2. This is dated 18th April 1991. The case of the petitioner appears to

have been processed. Some merit was found in the application preferred by the petitioner. Recommendation was also made in his favour. This

recommendation has been placed on the file as Annexure R.3. The relevant para is noticed as under :

This department would have no objection if the applicant is appointed against the post of Inker Feeder in the pay scale of 7451025 (lowest post

in the tenchincl side) for which the case may kindly be processed...

Even though, the above recommendation was made on 23rd April 1991, no action appears to have been taken by the Stateauthorities. It is this

in action on the part of the concerned authorities which led the petitioner to approach this court. As indicated above, he is seeking compassionate

appointment on the basis of the rules referred to above. The relevant rule which would be applicable to the facts of this case is R. 4. For facility of

reference, this Rule is noticed below:

Appointment in cases of death in harness Appointment under these rules in respect of a family member of a Government employee who dies in

harness due to a cause other than militancy related action, shall be made by Head of the Department concerned: provided that:

i. Where no post is available in the office or subordinate offices of the Head of the Department, the proposal for appointment shall be submitted to

the Administrative Department concerned and where there is no post available in the Administrative Department concerned also, the case shall be

referred to General Administration Department for appointment of the candidate in any other department: or

ii) Where any such appointment is to be made in relaxation of rules, such cases shall be submitted to the General Administration Department in

coordination.

I am of the opinion that this Rule is fully applicable to the facts of this case. The plea taken by the State that as this Rule came into force after the

death of the petitioner's father, therefore, the benefit cannot be given, cannot be accepted. The Rule talks about giving compassionate appointment

to a person whose family member was a government employee and had died in harness. This Rule does not lay down that the benefit of this Rule is

to be given only to the son, daughter or relation of that person who died after 22nd February 1994. The petitioner as indicated above was five

years of age when his father died. He submitted his application in 1993 as per the advertisement notice issued by respondent No. 2. This

application was processed. Some observations were made in his favour. However, no final action was taken.

I am of the opinion that under the Rules, the petitioner was entitled to the benefit of Rules and his application should have been processed

accordingly.

Another argument which has been raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner is that in similar circumstances, the relief was also granted to

some other persons. One such writ petition is SWP 711/1992 titled Ajay Kumar Gupta v. State of J&K & Ors. However, without further going

into the matter, I am of the opinion that the rules as they exist on the Statute book, do enable the petitioner to seek employment with the State. This

writ petition is accordingly allowed. The Respondentauthorities would process the case of the petitioner. Let the requisite action be taken within a

period of four months. The period of four months would begin from the date, the copy of the order passed by this court along with the writ petition

and Annexures is made available to the respondentauthorities by the petitioner. If for some practical reasons, the concerned authorities are not able

to take a decision within the stipulated period, they shall be at liberty to seek extension of time. But in that eventuality, they shall have to explain the

delay of each and every day.

This petition is disposed of in the manner indicated above.

Petiton allowed.