Court No. - 40 Case :- WRIT - A No. - 51712 of 2017 Petitioner :- Priyanka Agarwal Respondent :- Union of India and 2 others Counsel for Petitioner :- Vijay Prakash Jaiswal Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,Amaresh Sinha Hon'ble Dinesh Kumar Singh,J.
The husband of the petitioner while working on the post of Assistant in the Oriental Insurance Company Limited, Divisional Office, Moradabad died in harness on 6.9.2014. The petitioner facing financial distress having two minor daughters, moved an application before the respondent no.3 on 12.12.2014 for giving her compassionate appointment under the dying-in- harness scheme of the respondent-Insurance Company. No decision was taken on the request of the petitioner despite several representations given by her. Therefore, she has filed the present writ petition for a direction to the respondent-Insurance Company giving the petitioner compassionate appointment as her husband had died in harness.
In response to the notice issued by this Court, counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the respondents, in which it has been said that the old scheme dated 1.6.2002 on subject was discontinued and under the new scheme it has been decided that a dependent of an employee who had died on or after 1.11.2014 is only entitled for compassionate appointment. Since the petitioner's husband died on 6.9.2014, the petitioner being dependent of such an employee whose death has occurred before 1.11.2014, she is not entitled for giving appointment on compassionate ground under the provisions of the new scheme.
I have considered the submissions of the parties.
An employee or the dependent cannot decide his/her date of death. It is not in the hands of dependent of an employee or the employee himself/herself when he/she would die. Even before 1.11.2014 there was old scheme of 2002 and there is no dispute that under the old scheme, the petitioner was entitled for being given compassionate appointment. The petitioner's claim for appointment on compassionate ground is being denied on the ground of new scheme in which an artificial date of death of an employee i.e. 1.11.2014 is fixed, which has no basis. Even otherwise, the petitioner was entitled for consideration of appointment on compassionate ground under the old scheme when the death of the husband of the petitioner was occurred on 6.9.2014 .
Considering the fact that the date of death of an employee has been fixed in an artificial manner, the same cannot be made basis for denying the legitimate claim of the petitioner for appointment on compassionate ground.
Accordingly, the present writ petition is allowed and the respondents are directed to consider the claim of the petitioner for compassionate appointment ignoring the cut off date i.e. 1.11.2014 and take a decision in accordance with law and appoint the petitioner on compassionate ground, if she is otherwise found eligible and qualified, within a period of one month from today.
Order Date :- 22.1.2019 Rao/-