Anju Monowara Begum and 11 Ors. v. the State of Assam and 5 Ors.
Case brief
What is this about?
Compassionate appointment Assam; OM dated 18.09.2024 Personnel (B) Department; deaths in harness prior to 01.04.2017; supersession of OM No. ABP.50/2006/Pt-182 dated 01.06.2015; DLC/SLC consideration on merit; set aside rejections; six-month timeline; State of West Bengal v. Debabrata Tiwari Civil Appeal No. 8842-8855/2020; consent disposal without merits; non-precedential order limited to cases pending as on 03.04.2025; batch disposal of 56 writ petitions; Gauhati High Court; Justice Michael Zothankhuma; WP(C)/342/2025 and linked WP(C) cases.
What did the court decide?
All writ petitions pending as on 03.04.2025 challenging the OM dated 18.09.2024 disposed of by consent: (i) all pending applications for compassionate appointment to be considered and disposed of by the concerned DLC/SLC on merit per pre-01.04.2017 State guidelines and relevant Supreme Court/High Court judgments; (ii) challenged DLC/SLC rejections pending as on 03.04.2025 set aside; (iii) entire process to be completed within six months of receipt of certified copy (District Commissioner for DLC matters; Chief Secretary for SLC matters); (iv) respondents barred from taking recourse to the OM dated 18.09.2024 for these cases, though the Debabrata Tiwari judgment may be considered/applied; (v) decisions to be reasoned and communicated to the petitioners; order confined to cases pending as on 03.04.2025 and declared non-precedential for later filings.