Patna High Court
Hakim SinghversusThe General Manager, Eastern Coal fields Limited (A Subsidiary of coal India Ltd)
- Decided
- Disposal
- DISMISSED
- Bench
- PARTHA SARTHY
Holding
The petition is dismissed on the grounds of delay and laches, as compassionate appointment is not a regular mode of appointment.
Summary
The petitioner, Hakim Singh, sought appointment on compassionate ground in place of his father who died while serving as a security guard on 20 March 1996. He filed the application 27 years later, after the respondents had repeatedly requested documents which he supplied, but no appointment was made. The respondents opposed the petition, arguing that compassionate appointment is an exceptional relief, not a regular mode of appointment, and that the petition was filed after an inordinate delay. The court examined the facts and noted the petition’s lack of material details, including the date of the original application, and held that the delay amounted to laches. Consequently, the court dismissed the petition as unmaintainable.
Issues considered
- Whether a petition for appointment on compassionate ground filed after a delay of 27 years is maintainable.
- Whether the doctrine of laches applies to bar the petition.
- Whether appointment on compassionate ground constitutes a mode of appointment under the relevant service rules.
Subjects
- compassionate appointment
- delay
- laches
- civil writ jurisdiction
- high court
- employee death
- service rules
Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.18005 of 2023
======================================================
Hakim Singh, S/O Late Lalan Singh, Resident of Village- Akawari, P.O.
Akawari, P.S. Sahar, District Bhojpur
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
1. The General Manager, Eastern Coal fields Limited (A Subsidiary of coal
India Ltd) Belbaid Colliery Kunustorial Area, Topsi, District Burdwan,
(West Bengal).
2. The personnel Manager, Eastern coal fields Limited. C.G.M. Kunustoria.
3. The Deputy Personnel Manager, Employment ECL, HQ, Sanctoria, West
Bengal.
4. The Deputy Manager, ECL, Boring road, Patna.
5. The Superintendent of Police, Bhojpur at Ara.
... ... Respondent/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : None
For the Respondent/s : Government Pleader-24
Mr. Naresh Dikshit, Spl. P.P. Mines
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PARTHA SARTHY
ORAL ORDER
4 17-03-2026 No one appears on behalf of the petitioner. Learned
counsel for the respondents is present.
2. The petitioner has filed the instant application for
his appointment on compassionate ground in place of his father
who died in harness on 20.3.1996 while working as a Security
Guard.
3. The facts of the case as borne out from the contents
of the writ application is that the father of the petitioner who
was working in the capacity of a Security Guard having died on
20.3.1996, the petitioner submitted his application in the
Patna High Court CWJC No.18005 of 2023(4) dt.17-03-2026
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prescribed form for appointment on compassionate ground. The
respondents did not appoint him and wrote a letter on 2.11.2017
asking for some documents which the petitioner supplied. The
petitioner once again received another letter dated 28.10.2019
addressed to his mother from the respondents demanding copies
of the documents. Not having been appointed, the petitioner
filed the instant application for a direction to the respondents for
his appointment on compassionate ground.
4. The application is opposed by learned counsel for
the respondents.
5. Having heard learned counsel for the respondents
and having gone through the contents of the petition, so far as
the appointment on compassionate ground is concerned, the
same is not a mode of appointment but is by way of an
exception to enable the family to tide over the sudden financial
crisis that has befallen on them on account of the death of the
sole bread earner in the family as also the family not having any
other source of income.
6. From the facts of the instant case, it transpires that
the father of the petitioner having died in the year 1996, the
application is lacking in material details insofar as it does not
even state the date of the petitioner’s application. However
Patna High Court CWJC No.18005 of 2023(4) dt.17-03-2026
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bereft of unnecessary details, the instant application has been
filed 27 years later for a direction to the respondents to appoint
him on compassionate ground.
7. The application is fit to be rejected on the grounds
of delay and laches also.
8. The application is dismissed.
(Partha Sarthy, J)
avinash/-
U
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