CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO. 359 OF 2007 -1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. DATE OF DECISION: February 07, 2008 Parties Name Dinesh Kumar ..PETITIONER VERSUS State of Haryana and others ...RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JASBIR SINGH HON'BLE MR JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH PRESENT: Mr. Rohit, Advocate, for Mr. Sumeet Goel, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. Harish Rathee, Sr. DAG, Haryana, for respondents No. 1 to 3. Mr. R.S.Longia, Advocate, for respondent No. 4. JASBIR SINGH, J. (oral) Order. By filing this writ petition, petitioner prays that writ of certiorari be issued to quash order dated March 28, 2006 (Annexure P-1), vide which his claim, to get appointment in service on compassionate basis, has been declined. Counsel for the parties heard. It is apparent from the records that father of the petitioner, who was working as Forest Guard, died on October 6, 2002. Immediately thereafter on November 15, 2002, petitioner moved an application to get appointment, on compassionate basis, against the post of Peon/Mali. That application was kept pending and in the meantime, the State formulated the CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO. 359 OF 2007 -2 Haryana Compassionate Assistance to the Dependents of Deceased Government Employees Rules, 2003. As per provisions of those Rules, if no post is available during the period of three years, the dependent of the deceased Government employee was not entitled to get appointment on compassionate basis. Claim of the petitioner was rejected in view of those provisions. It is specifically stated in para 1 of the written-statement that during the period in question, no post in group D was available, which could have been offered to the petitioner. In para No. 2 of the preliminary objections of the written-statement, it has been stated thus: “That the writ is liable to be dismissed because it is premature because the petitioner did not reply to the notice dated 28.3.2006 given by the Department in pursuance of the Haryana Compassionate Assistance to the Dependents of deceased Government employees Rules 2003 read with amendments of 2004 for ex-gratia cases vide Chief Secretary to Govt. Haryana letter No. 16/138/2001-5-GS-II dated 11.2.2004 asking him whether he want to take Rs. 2.50 lakhs or not as per the policy of the Government.” Perusal of document Annexure P-2 indicates that the petitioner was asked to collect the amount of financial assistance from the office within a period of one month. As the petitioner failed to opt for the same, the said benefit was declined to him. We are of the view that the Rules, referred to above, have been framed to give help to the family of the deceased Government employee, on compassionate basis, to bring the family out of financial crunch. If due to CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO. 359 OF 2007 -3 some misunderstanding of the Rules, petitioner has not opted for getting financial assistance, that right cannot be denied to him on technical grounds only. At the time of arguments, counsel for the petitioner has also confined his prayer with regard to release of financial assistance, as was offered to him earlier by the department. In view of facts, mentioned above, we allow the writ petition and in view of averments made in para No. 2 of the preliminary objections of the written-statement, we direct the authorities to grant ex gratia financial assistance of Rs. 2,50,000/- to the wife and unmarried children of the deceased Government employee in equal proportion within a period of two months from the date of receipt of copy of this order, subject to their filing affidavits as mentioned in letter Annexure P-2. ( Jasbir Singh ) Judge ( Jaswant Singh) February 07, 2008. Judge DKC