Saqib Rouf Bhat vs Accountant General (A&E), Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar & Ors

D.S. Mahra, Member (J)

The father of the applicant was working in the respondent department and died in harness on 23.7.2011 having more than 11 years 7 months of service left. After the death of his father the applicant applied for appointment on compassionate ground but the same has not been considered by the respondents. Being aggrieved by such inaction on the part of the respondents, the applicant filed SWP No. 923 of 2017 before Hon’ble High Court which has been subsequently transferred to this Tribunal and re-numbered as TA 2167 of 2020. The applicant has prayed for the following reliefs :

i) A writ of mandamus directing the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner for his compassionate appointment in the office of the Accountant General (A&E) Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar in place of his deceased father namely Rouf Ahmad Bhat, who died in harness while he was employed in the office of respondent No.1 as Senior Accountant;

ii) With a further writ of mandamus directing the respondents to consider the petitioner’s case on the same analogy on which it has been done in the other similarly situated persons as mentioned in para 7 of the writ petition.

iii) Any other order, writ or direction which this Hon’ble Court may be pleased in the circumstances of the case, may be issued in favour of the petitioner and against the respondents.

The father of the applicant died on 23.7.2011 and the applicant thereafter applied for compassionate appointment. When no response came from the respondents for a long time, the applicant sought for information under RTI Act. The applicant was informed vide communication dated 20.4.2017 that his application had been forwarded to the Screening Committee for consideration. Despite repeated representations, the respondents did not act in this regard, while several cases of compassionate appointments have been dealt with by the respondents, which is clear from the communication dated 20.4.2017. The communication dated 20.4.2017 is reproduced here as under :

“Please refer to your RTI application dated 9.3.2017 received on 21.3.2017 where under you have sought some information from this office. As desired by you the para wise reply is as under :

1) Xerox copies of applications received from NOKs which were considered for appointment n compassionate grounds in this office since July, 2011 onwards.

2) Details of appointments made on compassionate grounds since July-2011 are as under :

i)

Sh Vijay Kumar, MTS

= DOA 28.2.2013

ii)

Sh.Sheikh Saliq Nazir, Clerk

= DOA 26.9.2016

iii)

Kum.Muhliqa Hussain, MTS

= DOA 25.10.2016

iv

Sh.Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar, MTS

= DOS 18.10.2016

3) Copies of Minutes of Meetings of Departmental Screening Committee on which the above compassionate appointments were made showing the merits thereof from 2011 onwards till date.

If you are not satisfied with the reply you may appeal to the first Appellate authority i.e. Accountant General (A&E) J&K, Srinagar within a period of thirty days.”

The grievance of the applicant is that the respondents have acted discriminatorily towards him while considering the cases of other equally placed individuals. He also submits that if there was no vacancy available in 2013, then how Sh.Vijay Kumar could be appointed on 28.2.2013.

3, The respondents in their counter have stated that after the death of the father of the applicant, the family pension and other pensionary benefits were paid to the applicant as per rules. The applicant thereafter applied for compassionate appointment and after proper verification the same was forwarded to the Departmental Screening Committee constituted for the purpose. The committee considered the case of the applicant along with other compassionate appointment cases and due to non-availability of vacancy his case was not recommended in the year 2012 and 2013. In 2014 his case was considered as per compassionate appointment policy of Govt. of India in vogue and was closed. The same was informed to the applicant vide letter dated 14.9.2015 which reads as under :

“Sh. Saqib Rouf S/o Late Sh. Rouf Ahmad Bhat (Ex-Sr. Accountant) may refer to his application dated 3.9.2015 regarding his request for compassionate appointment. In this connection he is informed that his case for compassionate appointment was considered by the Screening Committee of this office with other cases and after due consideration his case has been found fulfilling less parameters than others and his case has been treated as closed.”

Heard learned counsels for both sides and perused the materials available on record.

The father of the applicant was working in the respondent department and died in harness on 23.7.2011 having more than 11 years 7 months of service left. After the death of his father the applicant applied for appointment on compassionate ground but the same has not been considered by the respondents. According to the respondents the case of the applicant for compassionate appointment was considered in 2012 and 2013 but due to non-availability of vacancies, the same could not be recommended. But the information received by the applicant through RTI Act shows that one Sh. Vijay Kumar was appointed on 28.2.2013, from which is contrary to the submission made by the respondents.

In view of the above discussion, the respondents are directed to consider the claim of the applicant for compassionate appointment as per law within six weeks from today as the said benefit was extended to the individuals in 2013 and 2016, if the applicant is entitled under the rules and pass a reasoned and speaking order and communicate the same to the applicant.

With this observation the TA is disposed of. There will be no order as to costs.