Phulmati Basumatary v. The State of Assam

ORDER

01.03.2024

¶1Heard Ms. A. Das, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Mr. T. Deuri, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. P. Nayak, learned Standing Counsel for the BTC representing the respondents.

¶2The present writ petition is filed assailing a select list dated 18.07.2015 Page No.# 3/4 (Annexure-E), whereby, a list of candidates for appointment on compassionate ground against the vacancy for the year 1996 to 2010 in the Forest Department was published/notified by way of an advertisement.

¶3The case of the petitioner is that the petitioner was also empanelled as a candidate as regards the aforesaid period but has wrongly been deprived from such selection.

¶4The husband of the petitioner was an employee under the Forest Department, Government of Assam who died-in-harness on 23.06.2009 and accordingly, the petitioner filed an application before the employer of the husband for consideration of her case for compassionate appointment.

¶5The Conservator of Forest (Head Quarter), initially prepared a proposal empanelling as many as 805 candidates for appointment under the Scheme of Compassionate Appointment for the period with effect from 1996 to 2010 against the earmarked quota of 5%. Such list was forwarded to the Principal Secretary to the Government of Assam, Environment & Forest Department, Dispur, Guwahati. Subsequently, the State Level Committee constituted for this purpose, after consideration of the respective claims in a meeting held on

01.04.2015 in the Conference Room of Chief Secretary, Assam, Dispur, decided to recommend the names of candidates year wise from the year 1996 to the year 2010 as reflected in the impugned advertisement/notice dated 18.07.2015.

¶6The basic ground of challenge to such list as argued by the writ petitioner is that the persons who were selected against the vacancies of year 2009, donot belong to the said year, but to a different year and thus, the petitioner who actually is entitled for appointment for the vacancy for the year 2009 has been deprived of her right. However, the selected candidates against vacancy of the year 2009, numbered in 9 are not arrayed as party respondents in this writ Page No.# 4/4 petition. In the event, if this Court upheld the arguments advanced, any one of the selected person is to give way her post to the petitioner. Such course of action cannot taken, when these nine persons are not arrayed as respondents in the present writ petition. That being the position, this writ petition cannot be entertained for want of necessary party.

¶7Another aspect of the matter is that, the husband of the petitioner expired in the year 2009, the select list was published in the year 2015 and the petitioner approached this Court assailing such select list in the year 2018 i.e. after three years from the date of publication of the select list and therefore, on this count also, this writ petition cannot be entertained, inasmuch as validity of a select list cannot be extended beyond one year in absence of any expressed stipulation to that effect.

¶8Accordingly, this writ petition stands dismissed for reasons discussed hereinabove.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010004782018 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/294/2018o PHULMATIoBASUMATARYo W/OoLT.oSANIBARoBASUMATARYo R/OoVILL-oBOROoGENDRABILo P.O.oGENDRABILo P.S.oKOKRAJHARo DIST.oKOKRAJHAR,oBTAD,oASSAM VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMo REP.oBYoTHEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM,o DEPARTMENToOFoFORESToANDoENVIRONMENT,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI 2:BODOLANDoTERRITORIALoAUTONOMOUSoCOUNCIL oREP.oBYoPRINCIPALoSECRETARY oKOKRAJHAR oBTAD oASSAM o DIST.oKOKRAJHAR oASSAM 3:STATEoLEVELoCOMMITTEEoFOR oAPPOINTMENToONoCOMPASSIONATEoGROUND oFORESToDEPARTMENT oASSAM oREP.oBYoITSoCHAIRMAN. 4:THEoPRINCIPALoCHIEFoCONSERVATORoOFoFORESToANDoHEADoOFo FORESToFORCE Page No.# 2/4 ASSAM PANJABARI GUWAHATI 5:THE ADDITIONAL PRINCIPAL CHIEF CONSERVATOR OF FOREST BTAD ASSAM DIST. KOKRJHAR ASSAM 6:THE CHIEF CONSERVATOR OF FOREST HQ PANJABARI GUWAHATI 7:THE DIVISIONAL FOREST OFFICER HALTUAGAON DIVISION KOKRAJHAR BTAD ASSAM DIST. KOKRAJHAR ASSA Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. T DEURI Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN DEV CHOUDHURY