Gautam Bora vs State Of Assam And Ors

None appears for the petitioner. Heard Mr. D. Nath, learned Addl. Senior Govt. Advocate appearing for the respondent Nos. 5 and 6. None

appears for the respondent Nos.1 to 4.

Considering the nature of order that is proposed to be passed non-appearance on behalf of the petitioner and on behalf of the respondent Nos.1 to 4

need not detain this Court any further, more so as it is a matter of compassionate appointment.

The father of the petitioner who was working as a Grade-IV Khalasi in the Office of the Executive Engineer, Public Health Engineering, Jorhat

died-in-harness on 17.05.2010. On his death, the petitioner submitted an application for compassionate appointment in the prescribed form. As the said

application was not given a consideration, the petitioner preferred an application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India resulting in WP(C)

No.139/2011.

The said writ petition was given a final consideration by the order dated 11.01.2011 by directing the respondent authorities to examine the case of

the petitioner in terms of the guidelines formulated in Achyut Ranjan Das and Faziron Nessa’s case. The said order specified that the petitioner

cannot claim for appointment against any particular post or service and that the consideration be strictly made as per the parameters and yardsticks

laid down in the guidelines. In other words, the Court has provided that the petitioner should be considered for any available vacant post to which the

petitioner may be suitably qualified for.

When the said order was not complied with, a contempt case being Cont.Cas(C) No.22/2012 was preferred. In the order of 22.08.2014, in the

contempt case, it was recorded that the learned counsel representing the respondent authorities had submitted that the matter will have to be

considered by the SLC.

Accordingly, the contempt petition was disposed of by directing the respondent authorities to do the needful in terms of the submission of the learned

counsel for the respondents. Ordinarily although an application for compassionate appointment under the guidelines laid down in Achyut Ranjan Das

and Faziron Nessa’s cases is required to be placed before the DLC, but in the instant case, because of the aforesaid submission, it appears that it

was directly placed before the SLC. By the communication dated 28.01.2016, the Joint Secretary to the Govt. of Assam in the Public Health

Engineering Department had informed the petitioner that the SLC in its meeting held on 21.11.2015 had rejected the claim of the petitioner by referring

to Principle X of the guidelines laid down by this Court in Achyut Ranjan Das case, which according to the SLC is as follows:-

“If the applications of eligible candidates remain pending and cannot be considered due to want of vacancies for a period of 2 (two) years from the

date of making such applications, all such applications will require no further consideration and must be understood to have spent their force.â€​

On a bare reading of the aforesaid provision, it is apparent that under two conditions, the application for compassionate appointment requires no

further consideration. The two conditions are that the application must remain pending and secondly, it could not be given due consideration for want

of vacancy for a period of two years. The expression ‘could not be considered for want of vacancies’ itself indicates some kind of

consideration must be given resulting in the conclusion that the compassionate appointment cannot be recommended as because there is no vacancy.

In the absence of any such consideration, it cannot be construed that the case of the petitioner could not be recommended for want of vacancy.

In the instant case, it is apparent that no such consideration was given more so in view of the fact that the matter was directly placed before the

SLC without being considered by the DLC.

In view of the above it is directed that the Deputy Commissioner, Golaghat shall place the application of the petitioner for compassionate

appointment before the next available DLC of Golaghat and the same being placed, a consideration be given strictly in terms of merit by taking into

consideration the date of the application, the qualification of the petitioner and the availability of vacancy for the purpose.

It is provided that the Executive Engineer, Public Health Engineering, Bokakhat shall cooperative with the Deputy Commissioner for doing the

needful so as to enable the Deputy Commissioner to place the application before the next available DLC.

A copy of this order be provided to MR. D. Nath, learned for doing the needful.

Writ petition is accordingly disposed of.