RAJINDER KUMAR Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The prayer in the present writ petition is for issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari for quashing of impugned order dated 10.07.2014 (Annexure P-1) passed by respondent No.1, whereby, the claim of the petitioner for appointment to the post of Constable on compassionate grounds has been rejected. A further prayer has also been made for direction to the respondents to appoint the petitioner as Constable on compassionate grounds being dependent upon his deceased brother by giving relaxation in upper age limit on the basis of instructions dated 21.11.2002 issued by the Department of Personnel, Govt. of Punjab.

(2.) Briefly, the facts of the case as made out in the present writ petition are that the brother of the petitioner, namely, Dharminder, joined the Police Department as Constable and was posted at Police Lines, Ferozepur. He died due to cancer on 29.08.2012 while on duty. At the time of his death, he was undergoing training at PAP Jalandhar. After his death, the father of petitioner made an application to respondent-authorities to give employment to the petitioner on compassionate grounds in place of his For Subsequent orders see CM-12118-CWP-2016 deceased son as per policy framed by the State Government. All formalities were completed and even other legal heirs of the deceased submitted an affidavit stating therein that they have no objection in case, the job is given to the petitioner on compassionate grounds. The date of birth of the petitioner is 31.05.1985 and on the date of making the application i.e., 27.11.2012, the petitioner was 27 years 5 months and 26 days of age whereas the claim of the petitioner for employment as Constable on compassionate grounds was rejected on the ground that he was not fulfilling the condition of age for appointment to the post of Constable. Said order of rejection dated 10.07.2014 is subject matter of challenge in the present writ petition.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that admittedly, the date of birth of the petitioner is 31.05.1985 and on the date of submission of application i.e., 27.11.2012, he was 27 years 5 months and 26 days of age. The age prescribed for the post of Constable is 18-25 years. The claim of the petitioner was rejected on the ground that the petitioner was not within the age limit prescribed for the post of Constable. Learned counsel also submits that as per policy/instructions dated 21.11.2002, the age relaxation can be upto 5 years in deserving case of SC/BC/widows. In the present case, the petitioner belongs to SC category and his case has wrongly been rejected.