Court No. - 39 Case :- WRIT - A No. - 48013 of 2010 Petitioner :- Smt. Munni Bai Respondent :- State Of U.P. And Others Petitioner Counsel :- Vinod Sinha,Vinay Kumar Srivastava Respondent Counsel :- C. S. C. Hon'ble Dilip Gupta,J.
The petitioner has sought the quashing of the order dated 22nd
July, 2010 passed by the Executive Engineer, Jhansi Prakhand,
Betwa Nahar, Jhansi by which her application claiming
compassionate appointment on the death of her father-in-law has
been rejected solely on the ground that the daughter-in-law is not
included in the definition of family of father-in-law.
Sri Vinod Sinha, learned counsel for the petitioner contends that
the daughter-in-law is included in the definition of family of
father-in-law and in support of this contention he has placed before
the Court the judgment rendered by a Division Bench of this Court
in Zila Panchayat, Kaushambi & Anr. Vs. Lalti Devi & Anr.,
2008 (1) AWC 1035.
Learned Standing Counsel appearing for the respondents states
that it will not be necessary to file a counter affidavit and the
petition may be disposed of at this stage.
In Zila Panchayat, Kaushambi (supra), this Court observed as
follows:-
“Learned counsel for the appellant tried to argue that the definition of family
contained in Rule 2(c) is exhaustive though we do not find any substance
therein. From a bare reading thereof, it is evidence that the said definition is
inclusive and it is reproduced as under:
“2(c). ‘family’ shall include the following relations of the deceased
Government servant:
(i) Wife or husband;
(ii) Sons;
(iii) Unmarried and widowed daughters.”
We are fortified in taking the aforesaid view that Rule 2 (c) is inclusive from
the Division Bench judgment of this Court in the case of State of U.P. v.
Rajendra Kumar and others, 1999 ACJ 545 : 2000 (1) AWC 155. Similar
view has been taken by the Hon’ble Single Judge in the case of Manoj Kumar
Saxena v. District Magistrate, Bareilly and others, 2000 (2) ESC 967 (All)
and in Smt. Urmila Devi v. U.P. Power Corporation Ltd., 2004 (2) ESC 180
(All) : 2003 (4) AWC 3205 and we are in respectful agreement with the view
expressed therein. ……
In this view of the matter, the daughter-in-law, who becomes a member of the
family of her husband, in our view, is included in the definition of ‘family’ of
father-in-law and after his death, in the absence of any other legal heir, she is
entitled to claim compassionate appointment provided all other conditions as
required in law for such recruitment are fulfilled. We make it clear that the
aforesaid right of daughter-in-law would not be available, if she has remarried
or repatriated to her parents place and in such case the position would be
different. ……..”
It is, therefore, clear from the aforesaid judgment in Zila
Panchayat, Kaushambi (supra) that daughter-in-law is included in
the family of the father-in-law.
The order dated 22nd July, 2010 passed by the Executive Engineer
cannot, therefore, be sustained. It is, accordingly, set aside. The
respondents shall consider the case of the petitioner afresh in
accordance with the relevant rules and pass an appropriate order
expeditiously, preferably within a period of three months from the
date a certified copy of this order is filed by the petitioner.
The writ petition is allowed to the extent indicated above.
Order Date :- 12.8.2010
GS