HC dismisses PIL challenging compassionate jobs to kin of 2018 Amritsar train tragedy victims
Petitioner asked to deposit Rs 10,000 with PGIMER's Poor Patients Welfare Fund
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the order giving compassionate appointments to 34 persons who were wards/heirs of those killed in the 2018 train tragedy in Amritsar, imposing a cost of Rs 10,000 on the petitioner.
The court has directed the petitioner to deposit the amount with the Poor Patients Welfare Fund of the PGIMER, Chandigarh.
This PIL sought quashing of an order dated July 25, 2021, passed by the Under Secretary Personnel (Personnel Policies-II Branch) in the Government of Punjab’s Department of Personnel, under which 34 wards/heirs of those killed in the tragedy were provided employment.
A Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry observed that the petitioner had challenged the grant of compassionate appointments made in July 2021. When the court asked the petitioner’s counsel how a service dispute could be raised by way of a PIL, the counsel submitted that the matter did not amount to a service dispute and that the decision of the state government for granting compassionate appointment to the private respondents is being challenged.
The Bench, however, noted that the issue of whether service disputes can be raised through a PIL has already been settled through various decisions of the Supreme Court.
The order said that if anybody is aggrieved by such appointments, the person who has got compassionate appointment is free to approach this court or any other appropriate forum by raising a service dispute before the Single Bench. Since service disputes are personal in nature, they ought to be raised either by the aggrieved person or their heirs.
“In view of the above, this court deems it appropriate to declare that the present petition filed as a PIL is not maintainable and is dismissed as such with a cost of Rs 10,000 which shall be deposited with the Poor Patients Welfare Fund of the PGIMER, Chandigarh," the Bench held.
On October 19, 2018, around 60 persons were killed and 71 injured when a train ploughed into a crowd watching the burning of a Ravana effigy during Dussehra celebrations at Jaura Phatak near Amritsar.
In 2021, the Punjab Cabinet approved providing jobs to one member from each of the 34 affected families, based on their academic qualifications.
