Hamidur Rahaman vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors
2021 Latest Caselaw 4774 Cal

                                     W.P.A. 8174 of 2020
06    13.09.2021
      Ct.05
                                    (Through Video Conference)
rkd

                                     Hamidur Rahaman
                                           -vs-
                              The State of West Bengal & Ors.

                   Md. Sarwar Jahan,
                   Md. Ashraful Hug,
                   Mr. Binay Shaw
                                                             ....for the petitioner.
                   Mr. Anirban Roy, Ld. G.P.,
                   Mr. Raja Saha,
                   Mr. Biswabrata Basu Mullick,
                   Mr. Rajat Dutta
                                                                 ....for the State.


                            The writ petitioner is the son of the

                   deceased primary teacher who died in harness on

                   8th April, 1978. According to the writ petitioner for

                   the fist time he applied for appointment on

                   compassionate ground on 22nd August, 1996 which

                   is at page 18 of the writ petition. Writ petitioner is

                   aggrieved by Memo dated 7th July, 2020 issued by

                   the Chairman, District Primary School Council,

                   Birbhum whereby considering the application dated

                   14th February, 2020 made by the writ petitioner the

                   Chairman spurned the prayer for appointment on

                   compassionate ground since the writ petitioner

                   could    not    approach       the    authority   for   such

                   appointment within a period of two years. The

                   contention of the writ petitioner is that while

                   deciding       the   issue       of     appointment        on
                              2




compassionate       ground       the      Chairman,       District

Primary School Council, Birbhum considered the

application    of   the     writ       petitioner    dated      14th

February, 2020 as the first application ignoring the

previous application made by the writ petitioner on

22nd   August,        1996         and       accordingly         on

consideration of such application of the writ

petitioner dated 22nd August, 1996 his claim could

have been considered favourably.

       This Court has heard the learned advocates

representing    the       writ     petitioner       as   well    as

respondent authorities.

It is undisputed that in terms of the

relevant provision for appointment on

compassionate ground due to death in harness of

primary teacher application needs to be made

before the concerned respondent authority within a

period of two years from the date of death which

has not been done in the present case. Petitioner's

father died on 8th April, 1978 and if the first

application of the writ petitioner dated on 22nd

August, 1996 is considered for appointment of the

writ petitioner on compassionate ground even then

the benefit of appointment on compassionate

ground cannot be extended to the writ petitioner

since the said application dated 22nd August, 1996

was made much after the death of the teacher in

harness on 8th April, 1978.

Appointment on compassionate ground is

not vested right, it is an exception to tide over the

financial stringency occurs due to untimely death

of the bread earner and to provide immediate

financial assistance. Here in the present case since

the petitioner's father died on 8th April, 1978 and

the application was made for appointment on

compassionate ground on 22nd August, 1996 the

case cannot be decided in favour of the writ

petitioner since the application was made after 18

years from the death of the writ petitioner's father.

It is submitted on behalf of the writ petitioner that

at the time of death of the writ petitioner's father he

was minor therefore application could not be made

in time. In this regard, reliance is placed on the

judgment of the Division Bench of this Court,

reported in 2019 Vol 1 CHN 614 (Arindam

Choudhury -vs- State of West Bengal & Ors.),

wherein it has already been decided that if at the

time of death the dependent member of the

deceased family is minor he does acquire any

height for appointment on compassionate ground

on becoming major.

With the above observation, the writ

petition stands dismissed.

This order will not prevent the writ

petitioner being physically challenged candidate to

get pension if he is otherwise eligible in accordance

with law.

All parties shall act in terms of server copy

of the order downloaded from the official website of

this Court.

Urgent photostat certified copy of the order, if

applied for, be given to the parties, upon usual

undertakings.

(Saugata Bhattacharyya, J.)