Surendra Kumar Baghel vs State Of Chhattisgarh
2021 Latest Caselaw 1678 Chatt

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                                                                              NAFR
             HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR

                               WPS No. 4143 of 2021

   1. Surendra Kumar Baghel S/o Late Ramdhar Baghel Aged About 35 Years R/o
      Village Singodi Terai Ward, District Narayanpur Chhattisgarh

                                                                       ---- Petitioner

                                      Versus

   1. State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Secretary, General Administration
      Department, Mantralaya, Mahanadi Bhawan, Atal Nagar Nawa Raipur District
      Raipur Chhattisgarh

   2. District Collector District Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh

   3. Tahsildar Tahsil Narayanpur, District Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh

                                                               ---- Respondents

For Petitioners : Mr. Neeraj Choubey, Advocate For State : Mr. Amrito Das, Addl. A.G.

Hon'ble Shri Justice P. Sam Koshy Order On Board 10.08.2021

1. Aggrieved by the order Annexure P/1 dated 26.08.2020, the present

writ petition has been filed.

2. Vide the said impugned order, the claim of the petitioner for

compassionate appointment has been rejected. The ground of rejection

has been that the eldest brother of the petitioner is found to be in

government employment.

3. The relevant facts which has led to the filing of the present writ petition

is that the father of the petitioner was working under the respondents

on the post of peon and who died in harness on 08.12.2019. On the

date of death, the deceased was survived by widow, three sons and

two daughters. The eldest son and the eldest daughter both are

married, so it is not reflected in the details of the family.

4. The contention of the petitioner is that on the date of death, it was the

widow along with two sons and one unmarried daughter, who were

totally dependant upon the income of the deceased. That the eldest

son and the eldest daughter, since they are already married and both of

them have their separate family and they are no longer dependant in

the family of the deceased.

5. It is the further contention of the petitioner that the eldest brother has

got married long before the death of the deceased and he and his

family are already staying at a different place. Since the petitioner was

totally dependant upon the deceased, he moved an application for

compassionate appointment, which has since been rejected vide the

impugned order dated 26.08.2020 on the ground that the eldest brother

in the family was found to be in government employment.

6. It is the contention of the petitioner that since brother got his

employment long back and he has already married and he has his own

family and children and also living separately and not supporting

financially, they do not fall within the definition of dependents of the

deceased. Moreover, the brother who has already married and has his

own family depending upon him, cannot be considered to be a

permanent source of income for the petitioner and his widowed mother

for sustaining themselves. To that extent the authorities ought to have

conducted an enquiry and thereafter should have taken a decision.

7. The State counsel on the other hand opposing the petition submits that

since the brother of the petitioner is already in government

employment, in terms of the policy for compassionate appointment the

candidature of the applicant has been rejected and in the absence of

any challenge to the policy, the decision of the respondent cannot be

said to be bad.

8. At this juncture, it would be relevant to take note of a recent judgment

passed by this Court in WPS No. 1025/2020 (Nandini Pradhan &

another Vs. State of Chhattisgarh & Others). The said Writ Petition

was allowed on 18.2.2020 wherein the Court has relied upon the

judgment passed on an earlier occasion in the case of Smt.

Sulochana Netam Vs. State of Chhattisgarh & Others in WPS No.

2728/2017 decided on 23.11.2017 wherein this Court had allowed the

said Writ Petition and set-aside the earlier order passed by the

authorities and had remitted the matter back for a fresh consideration

of the claim of Petitioner after due verification of dependency aspect,

firstly upon the deceased employee and secondly whether the brother

of Petitioner who is in government employment is providing any

assistance to Petitioner or not and also whether that brother has

married and has his own family or not and whether he is staying along

with petitioner or not. These are the facts which ought to have been

verified while rejecting the claim of Petitioner in the present Writ

Petition and which does not seem to have been considered by the

authorities and they simply passed an order on hypertechnical ground

specifically disentitling the Petitioner for claiming compassionate

appointment in the event of family members of deceased employee

being in government employment.

9. This Court is of the firm view that the intention by which the said clause

inserted by the State Government in the policy of compassionate

appointment was to ensure that the compassionate appointment can

be given to a person whose is more needy. It never meant that in the

event of there being somebody in the government employment in the

family of deceased employee, the claim for compassionate

appointment would stand rejected only on that ground. Moreover, in the

opinion of this Court the possibility cannot be ruled out of the so called

earning members and the so called persons who are in government

employment from among the family members of deceased employee

having their own family liabilities and in some cases are far away from

the place of deceased employee and staying along with their own

family. The rejection of the claim for compassionate appointment to a

person who was directly dependant upon the earnings of deceased

employee would be arbitrary and would also be in contravention of the

intentions of framing the scheme for compassionate appointment.

10. In the case of Sulochana (supra), in paragraph 9, this Court

dealing with the said issue has held as under:-

"9. In the considered opinion of this Court, in a case, where claim of compassionate appointment is made on the ground that the other member of the family had started living separately and not providing any financial help to the remaining dependent members of the family, who are at lurch, factual enquiry ought to be made by the competent authority to arrive at its own conclusion of facts as to whether this assertion of other earning member living separately is factually correct or not. If it is found, as a matter of fact, that the other earning member of the family at the time of death had already

started living separately and not providing financial assistance to the remaining dependents of the family, compassionate appointment must follow to eligible dependent of the family. However, in the enquiry, if it is found that the claim is only to get employment without there being any need because other earning member of the family is not living separately and providing financial support compassionate appointment may not follow. The aforesaid enquiry is required to be done even though the policy does not categorically state so. The State should consider by incorporating amendments in the policy to deal with this such contingency where it is found that on the date of death of government servant, the other earning member was living separately and not providing any financial help."

11. The aforesaid principles of law laid down in the case of

Sulochana (supra) have been followed by this Court in a large number

of cases and that is the consistent stand of the various branches of this

Court in the past many years now. This Court is also in the given

circumstances inclined to hold that the rejection of the application of

Petitioner for compassionate appointment by a single line order only on

the basis of the clause mentioned in the scheme or policy of

compassionate appointment of the State Government would not be

sustainable. There ought to have been some sort of preliminary enquiry

so far as dependency part is concerned conducted by the Respondents

prior to reaching to a conclusion.

12. Considering the fact that elder brother is in government

employment, what needs to be verified is whether the said person can

be brought within the ambit of dependent. Whether the said person can

be compelled to take care of the petitioner and his widowed mother

particularly when he has his own family and children to take care of and

he has been living separately altogether.

13. In the absence of any such situation, the policy of the State Govt.

to that extent so far as compassionate appointment is concerned, has

to be read down to be decided only after an enquiry which needs to be

conducted by the respondents, ascertaining the dependency part and

also in respect of any support which the petitioner is getting from the

brother. For the aforesaid reason, the impugned order needs to be

reconsidered and the rejection of the candidature of the petitioner by

strict interpretation of the policy would not be sustainable.

14. Thus, for all the aforesaid reasons, the impugned order

(Annexure P/1) dated 26.08.2020 deserve to be and is accordingly set-

aside. The authorities are directed to re-consider the claim of the

Petitioner afresh taking into consideration the observations made by

this Court in the preceding paragraphs and take a fresh decision at the

earliest within an outer limit of 90 days from the date of receipt of copy

of this order.

15. Writ Petition is allowed and disposed of accordingly.

Sd/-

P. Sam Koshy Judge J-