SHARDA SHARMA Vs. CHIEF ELECTION OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner's son was employee of the Agriculture Department of Himachal Pradesh. He was deployed for election duty at Polling Station No. 66 -Rampur in Shimla Parliamentary Constituency by the District Election Officer (DC), Shimla during election to Shimla (SC) Parliamentary Constituency -2009 as Polling Officer on 8.5.2009 at Rampur Bushehar. He became seriously ill and was admitted at the Government Hospital Khaneri at Rampur on 10.5.2009 at 5:30 PM by Sh. Prem Singh, Naib Tehsildar and Satya Parkash Kanungo. He complained of fever, vomiting, tremors, headache and dizziness. He was attended to by the then Medical Officer on emergency duty. On 10.5.2009 at 7:30 PM, the staff nurse on duty reported that the patient Sh. Anil Kumar was not found in his bed. FIR was also registered on 11.5.2009. Missing report was also registered in PS Rampur. However, the fact of the matter is that the petitioner has not been traced till date. The father of the petitioner also submitted a representation to the Hon'ble Chief Minister vide Annexure P -3, followed by another letter written to Chief Election Commissioner, at page 14 of the paper book. Sh. Anil Kumar's father also sent communication to the Superintendent of Police vide Annexure P -4 dated 21.7.2010. The fact of the matter is that Sh. Anil Kumar's whereabouts are not known.

(2.) THE Election Commission of India has addressed a communication to The Chief Secretaries of all the States and Union Territories on 17.2.2009 for payment of ex -gratia compensation to the families of polling personnel who die or sustain injuries while on election duty. The Commission desired the State Governments to frame separate guidelines for payment of enhanced amount of ex -gratia payment in the event of any mishap to the election related officials. The commission recommended an amount of Rs. 5 lacs as the minimum amount to be paid to the next of kin of the official in the unfortunate event of death of the official while on election duty and if the death is caused due to any violent acts of extremist or unsocial elements like, road mines, bomb blasts, armed attacks etc., the amount of compensation should be double i.e. Rs. 10 lacs.

(3.) IN sequel to the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India, respondent also framed the guidelines on 29.4.2009, whereby it is provided that in the case of death of an employee during election duty, the next of kin would be entitled to Rs. 5 lacs as minimum amount of ex -gratia and in the case of violent death Rs. 10 lacs. The petitioner was legitimately expecting that as per the communication dated 29.4.2009, she would be getting ex -gratia amount of Rs. 5 lacs.