The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has dismissed a writ petition challenging the compassionate appointment of a candidate under the repealed J&K Compassionate Appointment Rules, 1994, while imposing ₹50,000 in costs on the petitioner for suppressing material facts.
Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul held that the appointment of respondent as Office Assistant in the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) was validly made under the 1994 Rules, as her father, an SKICC employee had died in 2018, well before the newer J&K Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme, 2022 came into effect.
The petitioner, a senior SKICC employee working as Dak Runner since 1994, had claimed that her promotional rights were infringed because the post of Office Assistant should have been reserved for internal promotion. She also argued that the 2022 Scheme prohibits compassionate appointments to promotional posts, and that the 1994 Rules were repealed.
However, the Court found that the petitioner deliberately omitted the crucial Proviso to Clause 18 of the 2022 Scheme in her writ petition which is ostensibly deliberate and intentional. The proviso clearly stated that cases where the death occurred prior to the enforcement of the 2022 Scheme shall continue to be governed by the 1994 Rules.
The Court noted that the petitioner’s next eligible promotion was to the post of Jamadar, not Office Assistant, and that no vested or accrued right had been violated by the compassionate appointment. The petition was found to be without merit and dismissed accordingly.
As a consequence of the attempted suppression and misrepresentation, the Court imposed costs of ₹50,000, to be deposited in the Advocates’ Welfare Fund.
Appearances:
Appellant: Mr. Nissar Ahmad Bhat, Advocate
Respondent: Mr. Mohsin Qadri, Sr. AAG with Ms. Nadia Abdullah, assisting counsel for R-1 ; Mr. Avtar Singh Sodhi, Advocate for R-2; Mr. Sheikh Mushtaq, Advocate
