Orissa High Court
Sudipta Ranjan Tripathy vs State Of Odisha And Others on 31 October, 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
W.P.(C) No. 34358 OF 2023
Sudipta Ranjan Tripathy ......... Petitioner(s)
Mr. R. Mohanty, Advocate
-Versus-
State of Odisha and others ......... Opposite Party(s)
Ms. S. Pattanaik, AGA
CORAM:
JUSTICE SIBO SANKAR MISHRA
ORDER
31.10.2023
Order No.
02. 1. This matter is taken up through Hybrid Arrangement
(Virtual/Physical Mode).
2. Mr. Mohanty, learned counsel for the Petitioner submitted that
the Petitioner's father died in harness on 18.03.2017 while working as
a Classical Teacher in Government Girls High School, Berhampur.
The Petitioner submitted an application on 24.10.2017 for
compassionate appointment under Rule 8-(A) of the OSC (RA) Rules,
1990 as amended in the year 2016. The application was scrutinized
and some defects were pointed out on 17.05.2018. After curing all the
defects, the application was finally accepted by the Headmaster of the
School and forwarded the same to the District Education Officer,
Ganjam, Berhampur on 13.07.2018 (Annexure-6). Although the
application for compassionate appointment was completed in all
respect but the application was not processed for five years by the
Opposite Parties for the reasons known to them. Eventually on
01.05.2023 the application of the Petitioner was rejected by the
Opposite Parties inter alia stating as under:-
<With reference to the subject cited above it is
to inform you that on assessment of your application it
is ascertained that, you have secured only 11 points in
Part-I to the application against the requisite points of
60. As per General Administration & Public Grievance
Department, Odisha Notification No.395 dated
17.02.2020, if the total points allotted to the applicant
in Part-I of the evaluation sheet is 44 or less, the
applicant shall automatically be ineligible for
appointment under these rules.=
3. Learned counsel for the Petitioner states that on the
aforementioned admitted facts on record, his client's case is covered
by the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court passed in Malaya
Nanda Sethy vs. State of Orissa reported in 2022 SCC OnLine SC
684.
4. Per contra, Ms. Pattanaik, learned Additional Government
Advocate appearing for the Opposite Parties contended that as per the
judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court reported in (2020) 7 SCC 617 in
the case of N.C. Santhosh vs. State of Karnataka and others, the date
of consideration of the application is the relevant date as such 2020
Rule has been rightly employed by the Opposite Party in the present
case to reject the application of the Petitioner. Therefore, in the instant
case 2020 Rule is applicable.
5. It is pertinent to mention that OSC (RA) Rules, 1990 as
amended in the year 2016 was repealed by the OSC (RA) Rules, 2020
and the same Rule is governing the field as of today.
6. Prima facie it appears from the record that the delay of five
years in disposing of the application of the Petitioner for
compassionate appointment is attributable to the Opposite Parties.
Therefore, the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Malaya
Nanda Sethy (supra) lean in favour of the Petitioner.
7. At this stage learned counsel for the Opposite Parties seeks
time to verify the facts and file response to the Writ Petition.
8. Accordingly the Writ Petition is adjourned to 16th November,
2023. In the meantime the Opposite Parties are granted liberty to file
reply to the Writ Petition.
(S.S. Mishra)
Judge
Signature Not Verified
Swarna
Digitally Signed
Signed by: SWARNAPRAVA DASH
Designation: Senior Stenographer
Reason: Authentication
Location: High Court of Orissa
Date: 01-Nov-2023 10:56:24
