RAJINDER PARDEEP Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition is filed for issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner under the Ex-Gratia Grants Scheme to provide an employment to the petitioner as his father died while in service.

(2.) The father of the petitioner was employed as a J.B.T. Teacher and he was to retire on 29.2.1993 on attaining the age of 58 years. According to the petitioner, his father was relieved from service on 27th February, 1993 as 29.2.1993 happened to be a holiday, but unfortunately he died on 27.2.1993 itself after he was relieved. The petitioner applied for employment under the Ex-Gratia Grants Scheme on the ground that his father died while in service. The application of the petitioner was rejected by the authorities on the plea that the father of the petitioner was relieved from service before his death and the petitioner's father was not in service at the time of his death and the petitioner is, therefore, not entitled to be employed under the Ex-Gratia Grants Scheme. According to the petitioner, though his father was relieved from service on 27.2.1993 and he died on that very date itself after having been relieved, he was deemed to be in service as the last date of retirement was 28.2.1993. Therefore, his father must be deemed to be in service at the time of his death. Therefore, the petitioner is entitled to compassionate appointment.

(3.) Admittedly, the petitioner's father had four sons, out of whom three are already in service and the petitioner has been cultivating his ancestral land. He cannot claim a compassionate appointment as a matter of right. As held by the Supreme Court, this provision is only intended to mitigate the financial hardship that has to be faced by the family of the deceased employee who was in service after his sudden demise. It has been held by the Supreme Court in Jagdish Prasad v. The State of Bihar and another, 1995 9 JT 131 that the very object of appointment of a dependent of the deceased employee who dies in harness is to relieve an unexpected immediate hardship and distress caused to the family by sudden demise of the earning member of the family.