Gobardhan Goudo vs State Of Odisha & Others .... Opp. ...
2023 Latest Caselaw 15569 Ori

Citation : 2023 Latest Caselaw 15569 Ori
Judgement Date : 4 December, 2023

Orissa High Court

Gobardhan Goudo vs State Of Odisha & Others .... Opp. ... on 4 December, 2023

Author: A.K. Mohapatra

Bench: A.K. Mohapatra

                  IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK

                                  W.P.(C) No.38967 of 2023

                 Gobardhan Goudo                        ....               Petitioner

                                                             Mr. G.C. Sahu, Advocate

                                            -versus-

                 State of Odisha & others               ....            Opp. Parties

                                                                Mr. A.P. Das, A.S.C.
                                         CORAM:

                            JUSTICE A.K. MOHAPATRA
                                        ORDER

Order No.                              04.12.2023
    01.     1.      This matter is taken up through Hybrid Arrangement (Virtual
            /Physical Mode).

2. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner as well as learned Additional Standing Counsel for the State-Opposite Parties. Perused the writ petition as well as documents annexed thereto.

3. The present writ petition has been filed by the petitioners with the following prayers:

"Under these circumstances the petitioner most humbly prays that this Hon'ble Court be graciously pleased to issue a Rule NISI calling upon the opposite parties to show cause as to why;

i) the order rejecting the application of the petitioner for appointment under R.A. Scheme under Annexure-4 shall not be quashed;

ii) the opposite parties shall not be directed to accord appointment to the petitioner under Rehabilitation Scheme under the provision of OCS (RA) Rules, 1990;

If the opposite parties fail to show cause or show // 2 //

insufficient cause the Rule be made absolute."

4. It is submitted by learned counsel for the Petitioner that the mother of the Petitioner, who was an Attendant in SDH, Jeypore died in harness on 30.06.2018. After the death of the ex-Government employee the Petitioner being one of the legal heirs has applied for appointment on compassionate ground on 04.12.2018, however, such application has been rejected by the authorities by applying the OCS (RA) Rules, 2020. Being aggrieved such illegal and arbitrary conduct of the Opposite Parties in rejecting the application of the Petitioner vide order dated 11.05.2023 the Petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present writ application.

5. In course of his argument, learned counsel for the Petitioner submitted that considering the date of death of the Government employee and the application for appointment under RA Scheme, the case of the petitioner should have been considered by the Opposite Parties by applying the provisions of OCS (RA) Rules, 1990 as amended up to the year 2016. However, the Opposite Parties have rejected the claim of the Petitioner by applying the OCS (RA) Rules, 2020 which is not applicable to the case of the Petitioner. In such view of the matter, learned counsel for the Petitioner submitted that the impugned rejection order dated 11.05.2023 is liable to be quashed.

6. Learned Additional Standing Counsel on the other hand contended that the Opposite Parties have not committed any illegality in rejecting the application of the Petitioner by applying the OCS (RA) Rules, 2020. Further, referring to rule 6 (9) submitted before this Court that in the rules of the provisions contained in the said rule, all pending applications were to be considered under the OCS (RA) // 3 //

Rules, 2020. Therefore, no fault can be found with the conduct of the Opposite Parties in passing order dated 11.05.2023. In such view of the matter, he submitted that the writ application is devoid of merit and the same should be dismissed.

7. Having heard the learned counsels appearing for the respective parties and on a careful examination of the materials on record as well as the factual background of the present case, this Court observed that the case of the present Petitioner is squarely covered by the judgment of this Court in Biswajit Swain vs. State of Odisha and others in W.P.(C) No.5214 of 2021 decided on 31.10.2023, wherein this Court has struck down the Rule 6 (9) of OCS (RA) Rules, 2020 and directed the Opposite Parties to consider the case of the similarly situated persons under the old rules, 1990. In such view of the matter, the present writ application being disposed of by setting aside the impugned rejection order dated 11.05.2023 under Annexure-4. Further, the matter is remanded back to the Opposite Party No.2 to consider the matter afresh in the light of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Malaya Nanda Sethy vrs. State of Orissa and others : reported in 2022(II) OLR(SC)-1 decided by the Hon'ble Supreme Court and the judgment of this Court in Suchitra Bal vs. State of Odisha & ors. by a Division Bench of this Court in W.P.(C) No.2081 of 2021 decided on 16.03.2023 as well as Bindusagar Samantaray vs. State of Odisha & ors. by a Division Bench of this Court in W.A. No.810 of 2021 decided on 25.09.2023 and take a final decision within a period of two months from the date of communication of a certified copy of this order. Any final decision taken in the matter shall be communicated to the petitioner within two weeks from the date of taking such a decision.

// 4 //

8. With the aforesaid observation/direction, the writ petition is disposed of.

Urgent certified copy of this order be granted on proper application.

( A.K. Mohapatra) Judge Anil

Designation: Junior Stenographer

Location: High Court of Orissa Date: 07-Dec-2023 12:51:39