Mahbubul Alam v. The State of Assam and 5 Ors

ORDER Date : 19-12-2023 Heard Mr. I.H. Barbhuiya, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. B. Deori, learned Junior Government Advocate, Assam, representing the respondent Nos.3 & 6. None appears for the Education (Elementary) Department. The petitioner by instituting the instant writ petition assails the finding arrived at by the District Level Committee, Karimganj on 17.07.2017 in rejecting his application on the ground that the deceased employee did not have the minimum balance period of 3(three) years of service on the date of his death. The petitioner's father, namely, Late Ilias Ahmed, while working as an Assistant Teacher in No.977 Dakhin Paschim Pathu L.P. School under the Block Elementary Education Officer, South Karimganj, died in harness on 25.07.2015. The petitioner thereafter, on 20.04.2016 submitted his application praying for appointment on compassionate ground. The case of the petitioner was considered by the District Level Committee for compassionate appointment, Karimganj on 17.07.2017, wherein the case of the petitioner on consideration was rejected on the aforesaid ground. The ground as assigned by the District Level Committee, Karimganj in its meeting held on 17.07.2017 is extracted herein-below:- "Sri Mahbubul Alom D/o Late Ilias Ahmed The usual date of retirement of deceased of the Govt. servant is 31.05.2017 and expired on 25.07.2015 and accordingly it has been observed that the Govt. servant has not the balance period of minimum 3(three) years of service and accordingly the claim has been rejected in terms of para 1 of OM dt.

01.06.2015." Page No.# 3/4 The sole ground for non-consideration of the application for compassionate appointment is that in terms of the Office Memorandum dated

01.06.2015, more particularly, Clause 1 thereof, the deceased father of the petitioner, at the time of his death, did not have a balance of minimum 3(three) years of service left and, therefore, the case of the petitioner was rejected. The offending Clause 1 of the Office Memorandum dated 01.06.2015 is quoted herein-below:- "(1) Only one dependent family member of a Government servant appointed on regular basis - excluding one working on daily wage or casual or apprentice or ad-hoc or contract or re-employment basis - who die in harness or become incapacitated due to accidents suffered while on duty and is eligible to opt for invalid pension under relevant provision of Service Rule/Pension Code and/or who is missing is eligible for making application for compassionate appointment provided in each case the Government servant has balance of minimum of 3 years of service."

The said provision of Clause 1 of the Office Memorandum dated

01.06.2015 was challenged before this Court in a series of writ petitions, one of which is WP(C) No.1646/2021. A Co-ordinate Bench of this Court, vide judgment & order dated 31.01.2023, in the case of Bhaskar Konwar -Vs-State of Assam & Ors., by concluding that the prescriptions made in Clause 1 of the Office Memorandum dated 01.06.2015 is in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India struck down the said Clause 1 of the Office Memorandum dated 01.06.2015 and concluded as follows:- "19. In view of the above, therefore this Court answers the Issue No.1 to the effect that the Clause-1 of the Office Memorandum dated 01.06.2015 whereby the dependent family members of Government official who die in harness having less than minimum 3 of years of service being not eligible as per the said Office Memorandum is unconstitutional, being violative of Article 14 and accordingly struck down to the said extent." The provision of Clause 1 of the Office Memorandum dated 01.06.2015 Page No.# 4/4 having been interfered with by this Court in the case of Bhaskar Konwar (supra) and the ground on which the petitioner's case was refused to be considered on merits by the jurisdictional District Level Committee no longer exists. Accordingly, the conclusions of the District Level Committee arrived at in its meeting dated 17.07.2017 in relation to the application of the petitioner for compassionate appointment is interfered with. The District Level Committee, Karimganj, is now required to reconsider the case of the petitioner without taking recourse to Clause 1 of the Office Memorandum dated 01.06.2015. However, it is made clear that the District Level Committee while considering the case of the petitioner shall duly take note of the object behind the Scheme for compassionate appointment and the other provision of the Office Memorandum dated 01.06.2015. The said exercise be carried out in the next District Level Committee meeting, which follows after a certified copy of this order is served upon the respondent Nos.2 & 3 as well as the respondent No.6, Chairman of the District Level Committee. The petitioner shall submit a certified copy of this order along with a representation before the respondent Nos.3 & 5, who, in turn, on receipt of the same, shall act strictly in accordance with the directions as set forth above. With the above observation, this writ petition is accordingly disposed of. J U D G E Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010286722023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/7377/2023o MAHBUBULoALAMo S/OoLATEoILLIASoAHMEDo VILLoANDoP.O.oPATHUoDIST.oKARIMGANJ,oASSAMoPIN-788712 oooooooooooooooooooooooVERSUSo 1:oTHEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo5oORSoTOoBEoREP.oBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERo ANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM,oELEMENTARYoEDUCATIONo DEPARTMENT,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI-06. 2:THEoDIRECTORooELEMENTARYoEDUCATION ASSAMoKAHILIPARAoGUWAHATI-19. 3:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONERoKARIMGANJo(NOWoDISTRICTo COMMISSIONER)oCUMoCHAIRMANoOFoTHEoDISTRICToLEVELoCOMMITTEEo KARIMGANJooP.O.oP.S.oANDoDIST.oKARIMGANJoPIN-788710 4:THEoDISTRICToELEMENTARYoEDUCATIONoOFFICERoKARIMGANJo DISTRICToP.O.oP.S.oANDoDIST.oHAILAKANDIoASSAMoPIN-788710 5:THEoDEPUTYoINSPECTORoOFoSCHOOLS KARIMGANJoP.OoP.S.oANDoDIST.oKARIMGANJoPIN-788710 6:THEoDISTRICToLEVELoCOMMITTEEoKARIMGANJoTOoBEoREPRESENTEDo BYoITSoCHAIRMANo(I.E.oTHEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONERoKARIMGANJ) P.O.oP.S.oANDoDIST.oKARIMGANJoPIN-78871o AdvocateoforotheoPetitionerooooo:oMR.oIoHoBARBHUIYAo AdvocateoforotheoRespondento:oGA,oASSAMoo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Page No.# 2/4 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE N. UNNI KRISHNAN NAIR