GOLAKHA CHANDRA PANDA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner was appointed as a Chairman in the Office of the Cuttack Major Settlement at Cuttack on job contract basis and has been working as such in the said office for more than sixteen years. Since his appointed is on job contract basis, he is not a regular employee of the State Government and accordingly the rules and the Service Code applicable to Government servants are not applicable to the petitioner. In the year 1992, the petitioner was posted at Talajanga Camp to work as Chairman under the Assistant Settlement Officer, Balarampur Second Centre, Talajanga, by office order dated 12.8.1992. The petitioner has stated in the writ petition that on 6.2.1993 while he was returning from the village after meeting the tenants and telling them to attend the camp, he met with an accident and his left leg got fractured and he was taken to the Camp by the local people, but the camp officer did not help him in any way and only advised him to take rest in the camp. Thereafter on 8.2.1993 he was taken to the Public Health Centre, Kabatbandha, but the Medical Officer of the said Public Health Centre referred him to the S.C.B. Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack for further investigation and treatment. The Professor and Head of the Department of Orthopedics, S.C.B. Medical College and Hospital advised him for immediate operation and he was told to arrange Rs. 15,000/ for his operation. He could not arrange the sum of Rs. 15,000/ and went to Kalupadaghat for local treatment but he did not have enough money to stay there for long and he had to return to the Settlement Camp. The result is that he has become physically handicapped. A xerox copy of the certificate issued by the Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopedics, S.C.B. Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack on 12.9.1996 to the effect that the petitioner has become a handicapped person due to road traffic accident and he is suffering a permanent disability of 50 per cent is annexed to the writ petition as Annexure 2. After joining back in his work in the office of the Settlement Officer, Cuttack Major Settlement, Cuttack, he has continued to work as Chairman on job contract basis. The petitioner has filed this writ petition for a direction to the State of Orissa to provide him free medical aid and compensation for the loss suffered by him in course of his employment under the State of Orissa and for a direction to the State of Orissa to regularize his service in any post befitting his qualification and keeping in mind the nature of injury.

(2.) A counter affidavit has been filed by the Settlement Officer, Cuttack Major Settlement, Cuttack on 16.1.2003 stating that the petitioner is a job contract Class IV employee and is working in the office of the Settlement Officer, Cuttack Major Settlement, Cuttack and that there is no provision in the rules to provide free medical aid to a job contract employee. In the said counter affidavit it is further stated that pursuant to the judgment of the Supreme Court dated 24.4.1976 in Civil Appeal No. 477/93 the State Government have formulated a scheme for regularisation of job contract employees working in the Settlement and Consolidation organisations and under the said scheme, the job contract Class IV employees shall be absorbed in regular Class IV posts n the Tahsils as and when such posts fall vacant and new Class IV posts are created. A common gradation list has been prepared and the name of the petitioner finds place in the said list for regularisation, but as there are job contract employees senior to the petitioner who are yet to be regularised, the petitioner's case cannot be considered for regularisation until his seniors are considered for regularisation first.

(3.) THE second question which arises for decision in this writ petition is whether the petitioner is entitled to any free medical aid and compensation for the loss suffered by him on account of the accident on 6.2.1993. In para 4 of the writ petition, the petitioner has stated that on 6.2.1993 while he was returning from the village after making the tenants aware of their right to attend the Settlement Camp had met with an accident in which his left leg got fractured and he became invalid. This statement in para 4 of the writ petition ha not been disputed in the counter affidavit filed by the opposite parties on 17th January, 2003. Instead, in para 3 of the reply filed by the opposite party No. 3 on 18th July, 2003 to the rejoinder of the petitioner, it is stated that 'as per the record the petitioner faced the accident on 6.2.1993 while he was in the Camp in Jajpur district'. Thus, the accident arose out of and in course of the employment of the petitioner.