BHAGWANJI MOHANBHAI KHATANA Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, one of the sons of the deceased Monabhai Punabhai Khatana, who was serving as Compounder at village Patanvav in the Alopathy Clinic run by the District Panchayat, Rajkot, has challenged the order at Annexure-C dated 12-11-1981 passed by the District Health Officer conveying the decision of the State Government not to appoint the petitioner on compassionate ground as the income of the family of the deceased exceeded Rs. 400/- per month. The petitioner has, therefore, prayed to direct the respondent to reconsider the case of the petitioner for appointment to the post of the clerk or on any equivalent post and to appoint him on such post forthwith.

(2.) The petitioner belongs to the community recognised as backward class community by the Baxi Panch. The petitioner has passed S.S.C. Examination. The father of the petitioner, as stated above, was serving as Compounder under the establishment of the respondents and he expired on 18-9-1976 as a permanent Govt. servant. It is the case of the petitioner that the deceased father of the petitioner left behind him his widow, three sons and a daughter and, that the petitioner is the youngest son of the deceased. The elder son of the deceased Karanbhai who is serving in the Railway at Sikka is residing separately from the family of the petitioner since the life time of the deceased, and from his meagre income, he is not able to extend any financial support to the petitioner's family and the only source of income of the petitioner's family is the pension of the deceased father and the income out of the labour work done by his elder brother Khochan who is illiterate. According to the petitioner, his mother is receiving the amount of pension including the allowances amounting to Rs. 2664/- per annum, and the average income of the elder brother, who is doing labour work, is Rs. 936/ per annum. Thus, total income of the petitioner's family is Rs. 3600/- per annum. According to the petitioner, at the time of the death of his father, he was minor and studying in S.S.C. After passing the S.S.C. examination he could not continue further study because of the financial crisis and the petitioner could not get any job and has remained unemployed. According to the petitioner, the family has no movable or immovable property except the aforesaid average annual income of Rs. 3600/-. It is the case of the petitioner that the Government has for the welfare of its employees introduced a scheme to absorb the heirs of deceased employee who has expired during employment and the total income of his family does not exceed Rs. 400/ p.m. According to the petitioner, he was eligible for employment under the establishment of the respondent and with a view to take the benefits of the scheme, he made an application dated 17-3-79 addressed to the District Development Officer, Rajkot requesting him to give employment as a Jr. Clerk. In reply thereto, the petitioner received a prescribed form which was to be filled in by him and the petitioner forwarded the same duly filled in to the competent authority on 26-12-79. It is alleged by the petitioner that as no decision was taken by the competent authority, the petitioner made a representation to respondent No. 2 on 15-9-1981 requesting him to decide his application for giving him appointment by pointing out the pension income of his family, i.e. Rs. 222/ per month as per pension rule and, it is deducted by 50% in August, 1982 and it would be very difficult for the petitioner's family to cope up with the bare necessities of life in these hard days within this small income. However, to the shock and surprise of the petitioner, the petitioner received a letter dated 12-11-81 from the District Health Officer, Rajkot informing him that after considering the case of the petitioner, it has been found by the Government that the monthly income of the family of the deceased Monabhai is more than Rs. 400/- per month and, therefore, the application of the petitioner for appointment in service is not accepted. The said decision is under challenged in this petition.

(3.) In the affidavit- in- reply filed by one Shri S. K. Akhani, Under Secretary, Panchayat & Rural Housing Development, Gujarat State, reliance is placed on the guidelines prescribed by the General Administration Department, Government of Gujarat vide D. O. letter No. Bharat-1076-408-K, dated 12-5-1977 under which a member of the deceased employee can be considered for employment in the panchayat services. Condition No. 5 of the said resolution on which reliance is placed is reproduced below :