HC asks Punjab to reconsider plea for compassionate job

CHANDIGARH:In denying compassionate job to a Gurdaspur youth on ‘hyper-technical’ grounds, the Punjab and Haryana high court has reminded the government duties of a ‘welfare state’.

The youth, Pardeep Kumar, lost his mother, a government employee, when he was only 13 -year-old in 2002. The father of the youth, the same year, gave an application asking the authorities to keep a post reserved for his son. However, after attaining majority, when he applied in December 2009, his application was kept pending for four years and then rejected in 2013 on the ground that the application was not filed within one year of the death of the deceased government servant.

“Once an application is already pending, the respondent state cannot be permitted to reject the claim on hyper technical ground. It is expected of a welfare state to act fairly in the implementation of beneficial legislation,” the HC bench said, asking the government to reconsider the claim of the petitioner within three months. Pardeep Kumar had approached the high court in 2013.

The court found that two policies of the year (1996 and 2002) for compassionate appointments permitted an underage dependent of a deceased government employee to apply for appointment on compassionate ground on attaining eligibility. Denial on the ground that the application was not preferred within one year on the death of the deceased government servant is unsustainable, the HC stated.