Petitioners, eligible for Group C posts under compassionate appointment guidelines, were unlawfully assigned to Group D positions. Court mandated reevaluation based on qualifications, upholding statutory provisions over executive decisions.

Judgment :

A.K. Mohapatra, J.

1. Initially, the present Petitioners as applicants filed O.A. No.3829 of 2015 before Odisha Administrative Tribunal, Cuttack Bench, Cuttack with a prayer to declare that the action of the Respondents-Opposite Parties in giving appointment to the applicants against Group D posts i.e. against posts of Night Watchmen-cum-Sweeper and further insisting that the applicants- Petitioners should sign agreement / undertaking for such Group D post is invalid in the eye of law and further prayed that the decision taken by the High Power Committee in its meeting dated 24.06.2016 under Annexure-8 be declared invalid and consequently the respondents-Opposite Parties be directed to revise and modify the appointment of the applicants by giving them appointment against vacant Group C posts befitting to their qualification and as has been done by them in case of 5^th Phase Master List applicants.

2. After abolition of the Odisha Administrative Tribunal, the aforesaid Original Application has been transferred to this Court and has been registered as WPC (OAC) No.3829 of 2015.

3. Heard Mr. S.D. Routray, learned counsel appearing for the Petitioners and Mr. S. Jena, learned Standing Counsel appearing for School and Mass Education Department -Opposite Parties.

4. The factual matrix of the case as culled out from the writ petition, in brief, is that the fathers of the present Petitioners, who were working as teachers in the district of Bhadrak since 1980 while working as such, the father of the Petitioner No.1, namely, Akshaya Kumar Biswal passed away on 27.02.2010 and father of the Petitioner No.2, namely, Himansu Kumar Deb passed away on 04.11.2010 and father of the Petitioner No.3, namely, Kartik Chandra Khandai died on 02.08.2011. The present Petitioners, who are surviving family members and looking after the family after the death of aforesaid three persons applied for job on compassionate ground under the Odisha Civil Service (Rehabilitation Assistance), Rule, 1990 (in short ‘OCS (RA) Rules, 1990’) which came into force by a Notification No.25585/GEN/ dated 13.09.1990 of General Administrative Department, Government of Odisha. Thereafter, the same has been renamed as Odisha Civil Service (Rehabilitation Assistance) Rule, 1990. Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme has been prepared to help the families and provide assistance to the families of the Government employees on compassionate ground, who have either died or likely to die while in harness. Such a scheme was prepared by the Government of Odisha to save the families of the Government servant from distress, immediately after the death of the employee in harness. The very idea is to provide assistant to a family of a Government servant and to mitigate their worries arising out of the sudden death of Government employee so that the family would not be forced to face starvation.

5. The Petitioners, immediately after the death of their fathers in the year 2010-2011 respectively, applied under the OCS (R.A.) Rules, 1990 for getting appointment against any vacant Government post befitting to their qualification and as is permissible unde