Ravi Das v. the State of West Bengal and Ors.
Compassionate appointment – Death in harness on 12.03.2016
Case brief
What is this about?
Ravi Das v. State of West Bengal and others, W.P.S.T.95 of 2025 (decided 20 January 2026; coram Madhuresh Prasad and Prasenjit Biswas, JJ.). Compassionate appointment on death in harness (12.03.2016); rejection dated 20.07.2023 for belated application beyond two-year limit; allegation of tampered/antedated application (20.11.2018 shown as 12.05.2016) via communication dated 28.02.2025; court upheld timeliness on contemporaneous communication dated 10.11.2016, Memo No.9448 (Deputy Superintendent of Hospital); rejection order quashed; West Bengal Administrative Tribunal order dated 24.04.2025 in O.A. 18 of 2024 set aside; fresh reconsideration directed by Principal Secretary, Health & Family Department per 26-Emp. dated 01.03.2016.
What did the court decide?
Writ petition allowed: order dated 20.07.2023 of the Additional Director quashed; order of the West Bengal Administrative Tribunal dated 24.04.2025 in O.A. No. 18 of 2024 set aside; respondent no.2 (Principal Secretary, Health & Family Department, Government of West Bengal) directed to reconsider the petitioner's claim for compassionate appointment without raising the belated-application objection, undertaking the exercise within the time limit set out in 26-Emp. dated 01.03.2016, with the petitioner to cooperate and facilitate consideration in accordance with law under the extant scheme.