The Insurance Medical Officer v. Ram Giri and 3 Ors

ORDER Date : 20-11-2023 Heard Mr. F.U. Barbhuiya, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. K. Bhattacharjee, learned counsel for the respondent No. 1/ writ petitioner. Mr. J.K. Goswami, learned counsel is present on behalf of respondent No. 2 and Mr. R.K. Talukdar, learned counsel is present on behalf of respondent No. 3. The review petitioners were the respondent Nos. 2 and 3 in the connected writ petition preferred by the respondent Ram Giri as writ petitioner assailing the decision of the authorities to send him on retirement w.e.f. 30-04-2012 by unilaterally altering the entries in the service book of the petitioner, that too, when he was on the verge of his retirement. According to the writ petitioner, he would have retired from service on attaining the age of superannuation w.e.f. 31-12-2014 but due to the manipulation in the service book, he has been prematurely asked to go on retirement w.e.f. 30-04-2012. The review applicants did not appear when the writ petition was taken up for hearing. After considering the submissions of the parties and on perusal of the materials available on record, this Court had found that the impugned action of the respondent Nos. 2 and 3 in the writ petition, in altering the service book of the writ petitioner without putting him on notice was arbitrary and illegal. As such, by the order dated 13-03-2023 the W.P.(C) No. 7856/2015 preferred by the respondent No. 1/ writ petitioner, the writ Page No.# 3/3 petition was disposed of with the following direction:- "However, since the petitioner has already retired from service, this writ petition is being disposed of by directing the respondents to treat the petitioner to be in service up to 31/12/2014 for the purpose of notional fixation of his pay/ pension and accordingly, give him the arrear pensionary dues, if any, payable as per Rules."

Mr. F.U. Barbhuiya, learned counsel for the review petitioner submits that if the order of the Court is allowed to stand in its present form, then the petitioner would have to be treated to be in service till attaining the age of 61 years, which will be dehors the rules. In order to drive home his point, the learned counsel for the review petitioner has addressed elaborate arguments. However, after hearing the submissions of the learned counsel, this Court is of the opinion that entertaining the plea raised by the review petitioner would lead to rehearing the writ petition on merits, which would not be permissible in a review petition. Nothing has been pointed out to show that there was any error apparent on the face of the record calling for allowing in this review petition. In a review petition, the Court cannot enter into the merit of the matter afresh. If the petitioner is, in any manner, aggrieved by the judgment and order dated 13-03-2023 passed by this Court, the remedy would lie elsewhere and not in a review petition. With the above observation, this writ petition stands disposed of.

JUDGE GS Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/3 GAHC010140932023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oReview.Pet./82/2023o THEoINSURANCEoMEDICALoOFFICERo EMPLOYEESoSTATEoINSURANCEoE.S.I.oSCHEMEoDISPENSARY,oDHUBRI,o REPRESENTEDoBYoDR.oPABITRAoKUMARoDAS,o62oYEARS,oS/OoLATEo KAMALAoKANTAoHIRA,oRESIDENToOFoVILLAGEoDEOHATIoPARToII,oPOoAND PSoABHAYAPURI,oDISToBONGAIGAONoASSAMo783384 VERSUSo RAMoGIRIoANDo3oORS.o S/OoLT.oGOVINDAoGIRI,oR/OoBHABANIoNAGAR,oW/NO.12,oDHUBRIoTOWN,o P.O.oandoDIST-oDHUBRI,oASSAM 2:THEoSTATEoOFoASSAM oREP.oBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoandoSECY.oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oDEPTT.oOFoLABOUR oDISPUR oGHY-6 3:SENIORoAUDIToOFFICER oO/OoTHEoPRINCIPALoACCOUNTANToGENERALoAUDIT oASSAM oBELTOLA oGUWAHATI oASSAM 4:THEoADMINISTRATIVEoMEDICALoOFFICER oEMPLOYEESoSTATEoINSURANCEoE.S.I.oSCHEME ASSAM oHOUSEoNO.o19 oBYEoLANEo2oBACKoSIDEoOFoESICoMODELoHOSPITAL oBELTOLA Page No.# 2/3 JAWAHARLAL NAGAR PO KHANAPARA GUWAHATI ASSAM 78102 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR F U BARBHUIYA Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SUMAN SHYAM