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Orissa High Court
Santosh Kumar Rout vs State Of Odisha & Ors. ..... Opposite ... on 18 March, 2026
Author: Aditya Kumar Mohapatra
Bench: Aditya Kumar Mohapatra
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
WP(C) No.8300 of 2026
Santosh Kumar Rout ..... Petitioner
Represented by Adv. -
Sushanta Kumar Mishra
-versus-
State of Odisha & Ors. ..... Opposite Parties
Represented by Adv. -
D.K. Sahoo, A.G.A.
CORAM:
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ADITYA KUMAR
MOHAPATRA
ORDER
18.03.2026
Order No.
01. 1. This matter is taken up through Hybrid Arrangement (Virtual
/Physical Mode).
2. Heard learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner as well as
learned Additional Government Advocate appearing for the State-
Opposite Parties. Perused the writ application as well as the
documents annexed thereto.
3. The Petitioner has filed the present writ application with the
following prayer:
"On the aforesaid facts and circumstances, it is,
therefore, prayed that in the interest of justice this
Hon'ble Court may graciously be pleased to:-
i) Admit the writ Application.
ii) Call for the records.
iii) Direct to the Opposite parties to appoint to the
petitioner in a suitable post as per application
submitted by the petitioner to the Block Education
Officer, Athagarh in the District of Cuttack and
verification made by the District Education Officer,
Cuttack vide letter No.15098(21) dtd. 24.09.2018
alongwith all documents pursuant to the application
dtd. 18.04.2016 under annexure-4 & 5 as per
provision laid down in the Odisha Civil Service
(Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme) Rules-1990
read with the amended Rules-2025 Pursuant to the
Government of Orissa, General Administration
Department Notification No.11771 dtd. 04.04.2025
& letter dtd.09.03.2026 under annexure-6 & 7
taking in to the account the Judgment of the Hon'ble
Apex Court in the case of State of Odisha & Others
Versus Jita Luha Civil Appeal No.5842 of 2025 with
all service benefits within a stipulated period.
And pass any other appropriate order/ orders,
direction/ directions as the Hon'ble Court may deem fit
and proper in the interest of justice."
4. On perusal of the writ application, it appears that the father
of the Petitioner was appointed by the Managing Committee on
28.02.1975 was working under Opposite Party No.5-Instutition.
Learned counsel for the Petitioner further contended that in the year
1982, the post of the Petitioner's father was approved and he was
getting salary as per the scale of pay accrued. Learned counsel for
the Petitioner further submitted that on 02.12.2015, the father of the
Petitioner died in harness. Thereafter, the Petitioner being the legal
heir submitted an application for appointment on rehabilitation
ground on 18.04.2016 as per the application at Annexure-4. The
application submitted by the Petitioner for appointment on
compassionate ground under the OCS (RA) Rules, 1990 was duly
forwarded to the office of the District Education Officer, Cuttack,
who in turn, had issued a letter dated 24.09.2018 for verification of
the documents of the Petitioner. Thereafter, nothing happened and
the Opposite Parties sat over the matter.
5. Learned counsel for the Petitioner further contended that in
the meantime a new rule was introduced by the State Government,
i.e., OCS (RA) Rules, 2020. In the said new rule, there was a
provision which provided that all pending applications were to be
considered under the new rule. Such dispute was adjudicated by
this Court and attained finality after disposal of the Civil Appeal
No.5842 of 2025 filed by the State in the matter of State of Odisha
& Others v. Jita Luha & batch of other matters by virtue of the
judgment dated 02.05.2025. The G.A & P.G Department,
Government of Odisha came up with a notification dated
04.04.2025 thereby amending the relevant provisions of the OCS
(RA) Rules, which required that all pending applications were to be
considered under the new rule. Accordingly, learned counsel for the
Petitioner submitted that an application of the Petitioner is to be
considered under the OCS (RA) Rules, 1990. He further submitted
that being aggrieved by the inaction of the Opposite Parties in not
considering the case of the Petitioner though more than a decade's
time has elapsed in the meantime, the Petitioner has approached
this Court by filing the present writ application.
6. Learned Additional Government Advocate on the other hand
contended that he has no specific instruction in the matter.
However, taking into consideration the fact that the death of the
deceased government employee had occurred in the year 2015 and
that the Petitioner submitted his application as is evident from the
pleadings of the writ application within the stipulated period of
time and his application is stated to be pending, he will have no
objection if this Court directs the Opposite Parties to consider the
case of the Petitioner in accordance with law within a stipulated
period of time.
7. Having regard to the submissions made by learned counsels
appearing for the respective parties, on a careful examination of the
background facts, further taking note of the resolution dated
04.04.2025 as well as letter dated 09.03.2026 at Annexure-7 under
which the cases of the similarly situated persons have already been
considered by the Opposite Parties, this Court deems it proper to
dispose of the present writ application by directing the Opposite
Party No.3, i.e., District Education Officer, Cuttack to consider the
case of the Petitioner as per the OCS (RA) Rules, 1990 and at par
with the persons whose cases were considered as per letter dated
09.03.2026 at Annexure-7 within a period of eight weeks from the
date of communication of a certified copy of today's order. The
final decision so taken by the Opposite Party No.3 be
communicated to the petitioner within ten days thereafter.
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: 19-Mar-2026 18:56:51
