IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.1148 of 2009 ============================================= Manju Devi, w/o- Late Ramanand Yadav, r/o- Mohalla Lal Darwaja, P.S.- Kotwali, District- Munger. .... .... Petitioner/s Versus 1. The Bihar State Electricity Board, ,Vidyut Bhawan, bailey Road, Patna through the General Manager. 2. The Secretary, Bihar State Electricity Board, Vidyut Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna. 3. The Deputy Personnel Director, Bihar State Electricity Board, Vidyut Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna. 4. The Chief Engineer, Bihar State Electricity Board, Bhagalpur. 5. The Superintending Engineer, Bihar State Electricity Board, Munger Electricity Circle, Munger. 6. The Executive Engineer, Electricity Supply Division, Munger. .... .... Respondent/s ============================================= Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Ajit Kr.Singh 2 For the Respondent/s : Mr. Vinay Kirti Singh Mr. Anand K.Ojha ============================================= 4 12-09-2011 Petitioner is the wife of Ramanand Yadav who was serving in Electric Supply Division, Munger of the Bihar State Electricity Board (for short “the Board”) as Chowkidar. He became traceless w.e.f. 21.10.1993. As per the circular of the respondent Board issued on 7.9.1998, an employee, whose whereabouts are not known for last 07 years, was required to be treated as dead (civil death) and the dependants of such employee was/were entitled to be considered for grant of appointment on compassionate grounds. The petitioner made application for such consideration which remained pending for a long time. Ultimately, by a communication dated 8.2.2008 (as contained in Annexure-C/3 2 to the counter affidavit), the claim of petitioner was rejected in view of the amended scheme/circular of the Board adopted/issued in the year 2008. The said decision seems to have been taken in the light of circular of the Board as contained in Annexure-C/3 whereby the earlier circular on this subject contained in Standing Order No. 23 dated 7.9.1998 was cancelled with immediate effect. The said circular also declares that all pending applications shall be considered in the light of the amended provision wherein there is no provision for grant of appointment on compassionate ground in case of an employee whose whereabouts is/are not known since last 07 years. Learned counsel for the petitioner, referring to and relying upon a letter dated 31.12.2008 issued by the government (part of Annexure-C/4) contends that even the said circular provides for grant of appointment on compassionate ground in respect of an employee whose whereabouts are not known for last 07 years. It is contended that the aforesaid guidelines/instructions issued by the Government in the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms has been adopted by the respondent Board as contained in Standing Order No. 870 dated 17.6.2010 (Annexure-C/4) with certain conditions. There is no controversy that the petitioner approached the 3 respondents seeking appointment on compassionate ground well before 2005. The said matter remained pending inasmuch as certain correspondences in this regard were also made. The Board, subsequently modified the circular in the year 2005 wherein such privilege was not granted to the dependants of the employees whose whereabouts were not known for preceding 07 years. The Board subsequently, in terms of the decision/guidelines issued by the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department, Government of Bihar, again adopted the circular which provide consideration for grant of appointment on compassionate ground to the dependant(s) of the employee(s) who is/are traceless since last 07 years although with certain riders. Having considered the submissions made on behalf of the parties and on going through the pleadings on record, this much is evident that the claim of the petitioner was pending before the authorities for consideration before the respondent Board amended the provision in the year 2005. Subsequently, the respondents again adopted the said provision in line with the decision/guideline issued by the Government in this regard. In my view, the respondents were thus not justified in rejecting the claim of the petitioner on the ground that in terms of the amended circular/standing order, there was no such provision for grant of 4 appointment on compassionate grounds to the dependant of an employee who is found traceless since last 07 years . I am, therefore, satisfied that the respondents be directed to consider the case of the petitioner afresh in accordance with law keeping in view the Government circular dated 31.10.2008 (part of Annexure-C/4) as also the Standing Order No. 870 dated 17.6.2010. The respondents are further directed to complete the exercise of consideration within two months from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. The application is disposed of. PANKAJ KUMAR/- (Kishore K. Mandal, J)