Gauhati High Court
Sanchayetta Kashyap vs The State Of Assam And 6 Ors on 23 February, 2021
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GAHC010169282020
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : WP(C)/5147/2020
SANCHAYETTA KASHYAP
D/O- LT. ARUN THAKUR, R/O- PUB-AMULAPATTY, P.O. AND P.S.
GOLAGHAT, DIST.- GOLAGHAT, ASSAM, PIN- 785621
VERSUS
THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 6 ORS.
REP. BY THE COMM. AND SECY./ SECY./ ADDL. SECY. TO THE GOVT. OF
ASSAM, TRANSFORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT DEPTT., DISPUR, GHY-6,
ASSAM
2:THE STATE LEVEL COMMITTEE
DISPUR
REP. BY CHIEF SECY. TO THE GOVT. OF ASSAM AS THE CHAIRMAN
DISPUR
GHY-6
ASSAM
3:THE DISTRICT LEVEL COMMITTEE
GOLAGHAT
REP. BY THE DY. COMMISSIONER AS THE CHAIRMAN
GOLAGHAT
ASSAM
4:THE DIRECTOR
DIRECTORATE OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
BELTOLA
GHY-28
ASSAM
5:THE DY. DIRECTOR
OFFICE OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
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ASSAM
GOLAGHAT
ASSAM
6:THE COMM. AND SECY.
PANCHAYAT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
ASSAM
DISPUR
GHY-6
7:THE PROJECT DIRECTOR
DISTRICT RURAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
GOLAGHA
Advocate for the Petitioner : MR S P DAS
Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KALYAN RAI SURANA
ORDER
Date : 23-02-2021
Heard Mr. P. Kataki, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. R. Dhar, learned
Additional Senior Government Advocate for the respondent nos.1 to 5 and Mr. A. Roy, learned
counsel for the respondent nos. 6 and 7.
2. By this writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the
petitioner has assailed the minutes of the State Level Committee (SLC) meeting held on
29.02.2020, amongst others, rejecting the candidature of the petitioner for compassionate
appointment although her name was forwarded vide the minutes of the District Level
Committee (DLC), Golaghat meeting held on 18.06.2019 wherein recommendation was made
for appointment of the petitioner in Grade-III post of Field Assistant. The learned counsel for
the petitioner has referred to the statements made in para-7 of the writ petition to project
that the total cadre of strength of Grade-III post of Field Officers under the Directorate of
Economics and Statistics (respondent no.4) is 185 and at present there are 86 incumbents
and the vacancy post as on December 2019 was 99. Reference is made to office memo dated
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01.06.2015 to bring to the notice of this Court the fact that 5% of the direct recruitment
vacancies is to be filled up through compassionate appointment with a ceiling of 5% of the
total cadre strength.
3. Accordingly, it is submitted that adequate vacancies exist for appointment of the
petitioner under the compassionate appointment scheme. However, in the present case in
hand, the recommendation made by the DLC, Golaghat on 11.07.2019 as per the minutes
dated 18.06.2019 was taken up by the SLC in its meeting held on 29.02.2020 and had
unanimously decided not to recommend any of the candidates for appointment to the post
they have applied for. The relevant part of the resolution is quoted herein below:
"As the basic criteria for recommendation for appointment under Compassionate
ground is the availability of vacant posts and the administrative Department has
informed about the non availability of vacant posts, therefore the SLC has unanimously
decided not to recommend any of the candidates for appointment to the posts they
have applied for. It also appears that more than two years have elapsed since the date
of application and therefore under Priniciple-10 of the order of the Hon'ble High Court
as incorporated in the OM No. ABP 50/2006/Pt./182, dtd. 1-06-2015. The SLC also
declared that the proposals have spent their force."
4. Although the learned State counsel as well as the learned Departmental counsel
have prayed for time to file their affidavit-in-opposition, but it is noticed that this Court by
judgment and order dated 08.10.2020 in WP(C) 3998/2020 had remanded the matter back to
the SLC for a fresh consideration and the said order was passed in relation to the SLC
meeting held on 29.02.2020, which is the same minutes as impugned in the present writ
petition. In the said case, this Court had taken note of the fact that the DLC, Morigaon district
had identified the vacancy available for Grade IV post.
5. In the present case in hand, the DLC, Golaghat is found to have recommended the
name of the petitioner for being appointed in Grade-III post of Field Assistant. Therefore, the
Court has presumed that vacancies are available for appointment under compassionate
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ground. Accordingly, it was incumbent upon the SLC to consider the recommendation of the
petitioner against the vacancy identified by the DLC.
6. Therefore, in view of the decision of this Court dated 08.10.2020 in WP(C)
3998/2020, the recommendation of the petitioner made by the DLC, Golaghat is remanded
back to the SLC for a fresh consideration. Accordingly, the minutes of the SLC meeting held
on 29.02.2020 stands interfered with in so far as it relates to the petitioner. The Court is
inclined to direct that the DLC recommendation vide its minutes of meeting dated 18.06.2019
of the district of Golaghat be placed before the next available SLC. It is provided that the SLC
shall not reject the candidature of the petitioner on the ground that 2(two) years have been
lapsed in view of the observations made by this Court in WP(C) 3998/2020.
7. This writ petition stands disposed of in the above terms.
JUDGE
Comparing Assistant
