Orissa High Court
Muna Behera vs State Of Odisha & Others .... Opposite ... on 5 December, 2023
Author: A.K. Mohapatra
Bench: A.K. Mohapatra
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
W.P.(C) No.38143 of 2023
Muna Behera .... Petitioner
Mr. K.K. Swain, Advocate
-versus-
State of Odisha & others .... Opposite Parties
Mr. P.K. Muduli, A.G.A.
CORAM:
JUSTICE A.K. MOHAPATRA
ORDER
Order No. 05.12.2023
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 Government Advocate for the State-Opposite Parties.
Perused the Writ Petition as well as the documents annexed thereto.
3. The present Writ Petition has been filed by the Petitioner with the
following prayer :
"Under the above circumstances, it is humbly prayed
that the writ petition may be allowed;
And
(A) a writ of mandamus or an appropriate writ may be issued
by commanding the opposite parties to consider the case
of the petitioner for his appointment in a Group-D post
under the Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme in terms of
Odisha Civil Services (Rehabilitation Assistance) Rules,
1990 and he may be given appointment in a Group-D post
under the Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme as per the
said Rules, 1990 keeping in view the judgments of the
Hon'ble Apex Court rendered in the case of Malaya
Nanda Sethy Vs. State of Orissa and others (Civil Appeal
No.4103 of 2022 arising out of S.L.P. (Civil) No.936 of
2022 decided on 20.05.2022) and the recent decision of
this Hon'ble Court rendered in the case of Suchitra Bal
vs. State of Odisha and others (W.P.(C) No.2081 of 2021
disposed of on 27.06.2023 along with batch of cases) and
// 2 //
in the case of Bindusagar Samantary Vs. State of Odisha
and another (W.P.(C) No.27634 of 2020 disposed of vide
judgment dated 13.09.2021) which has been confirmed by
the Division Bench of this Hon'ble Court in the case of
State of Odisha and others Vs. Bindusagar Samantaray
(W.A. No.810 of 2021 disposed of on 25.09.2023 along
with batch of cases), within a time to be stipulated by this
Hon'ble Court;
(B) And any other order/orders or direction/directions may be
issued so as to give complete relief to the petitioner;"
4. Learned counsel for the Petitioner at the outset submitted that the
father of the Petitioner, who was working as a Peon in the office of the
Superintending Engineer, Northern Circle, Rural Works, Angul, died in
harness on 17.12.2014. Thereafter, the Petitioner applied for
appointment on compassionate ground along with a certificate of
unfitness of his mother to discharge any duties and to perform any job.
The application of the Petitioner was kept pending for a long time. In
the meantime, the Engineer-in-Chief, Rural Works, Bhubaneswar wrote
a letter to the Superintending Engineer, Northern Circle, Rural Works,
Angul on 12.11.2020 advising him to consider the application of the
Petitioner under the OCS (RA) Rules, 2020 in view of the notification
dated 17.02.2020 issued by the G.A. and P.G. Dept., Govt. of Odisha.
Being aggrieved by such conduct of the Opposite Parties the Petitioner
approached the Opposite Party No.1 by filing a detailed representation
dated 27.09.2023 under Annexure-8 to the writ application. It is stated
that the said representation is pending for taking a final decision in the
matter.
5. In course of his argument, learned counsel for the petitioner
submitted that taking into consideration the date of death of father of
the Petitioner i.e. in the year 2014, the law laid down in 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 applied to the
facts of the present case fully. Therefore, the application of the
// 3 //
Petitioner for appointment on compassionate ground is to be
considered in the light of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court
in Malaya Nanda Sethy's case (supra). He also referred to 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. In the context that the application of the Petitioner is to
be considered under the old rules of the year 1990 instead of new rules
as has been advised under Annexure-7 to the writ application.
6. Learned Additional Government Advocate, on the other hand
contended that the application has been filed after a long delay and such
delay has not been explained and the same has not been condoned by
the State-Opposite Parties, who is competent to condone such delay. It
was also contended by learned Additional Government Advocate that
the application of the Petitioner has not been rejected as of now and the
representation submitted by the Petitioner is still pending before the
Opposite Party No.1 for consideration. In such view of the matter,
learned Additional Government Advocate submitted, in the event this
Court directs the Opposite Party No.1 to dispose of the representation of
the petitioner in accordance with law within a stipulated period of time,
then he will have no objection to the same.
7. Considering the submissions made by the learned counsels
appearing for the respective parties and on a careful examination of the
background facts of the present case as well as materials on record, this
Court deems it proper to dispose of the writ application at the stage of
admission by directing the Opposite Party No.1 i.e. the Principal
Secretary to Government, Rural Development Department,
Bhubaneswar to consider the case of the Petitioner and dispose of his
representation under Annexure-8 within a period of eight weeks from
// 4 //
the date of communication of a certified copy of this order. The
Opposite Party No.1 is further directed to keep in view the judgment of
this Court as has been referred hereinabove as well as the judgment of
the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of State of West Bengal-v.-
Debabrata Tiwari reported in (2023 (3) SCALE-557 and a judgment
of this Court in Biswajit Swain vs. State of Odisha & 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 the OCS (RA) Rules, 2020 on the
ground that the same is ultra vires of the provision of Article 14 of
the Constitution of India. It is needless to mention here that the
representation of the Petitioner which is to be disposed of by passing
a speaking and reasoned order within the aforesaid stipulated period
of time. The decision so taken by the Opposite Party No.1 be
communicated to the Petitioner within a period of two weeks from the
date of taking such a decision.
8. With the aforesaid observations/ directions, the writ
application stands disposed of.
Issue urgent certified copy of this order as per Rules.
( A.K. Mohapatra )
Judge
Anil
Designation: Junior Stenographer
Location: High Court of Orissa
Date: 09-Dec-2023 14:52:29
