Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The bench of Justice Michael Zothankhuma of the Gauhati High Court ruled that all applications for compassionate appointment submitted by petitioners shall be considered and disposed of by the DLCs/SLCs concerned on merit by considering various guidelines prior to April 1, 2017, and taking into account the judgements of the Supreme Court and High Court. Consequently, the bench set aside the rejection of all compassionate appointments by DLCs/SLCs.
The entire process for considering various applications for compassionate appointment and the decision to be taken in each case by the authorities concerned should be completed within a period of six months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order by the District Commissioner concerned, who is also the Chairman of the DLC, if the matter pertains to the DLC. In other cases, the Chief Secretary to the Government of Assam, who is the Chairman of the SLC, if the matter pertains to the SLC.
“It is made clear that in view of the consent of the parties, this Court has not gone into the merits of any of the petitioners’ cases that are being disposed of by way of this order, and as such, the applications for compassionate appointment should be disposed of by the authorities concerned on merit, as they deem it fit and proper. The decisions to be taken by the authorities concerned should be based on reasons, and the decision taken should be communicated to the petitioners thereafter. It is also directed that while deciding the applications for compassionate appointment, the respondents cannot take recourse to the impugned office memorandum of September 18, 2024,” the Court said, adding, “It is again made clear that this order cannot be used as a precedent for cases that are filed on April 4, 2025 and thereafter. It shall only apply to cases that are pending before this Court as of April 3, 2025.”
As many as 65 petitions prayed for setting aside the Office Memorandum (OM) issued on September 18, 2024, by the Government of Assam, Personnel (B) Department, by which the scheme for compassionate appointment has been done away with for all those family members of the government servants who died in harness prior to April 1, 2017. The OM has been issued in complete supersession of the compassionate appointment policy.
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