Dismissed¶27

State of Hp and Others v. Happy Kumar

Himachal Pradesh HC18 Jun 2026CMP.M/862/2026

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Compassionate employment; compassionate appointment; Baildar death in service 28.09.2014; rejection of mother's employment assistance claim 27.07.2021; minor son applied after attaining majority; Engineer-in-Chief order 16.05.2023 barring reprocessing of rejected cases; writ petition allowed 29.05.2025; LPA dismissed; departmental compliance within two months; 246-day filing delay condoned; State of H.P.; Happy Kumar; Himachal Pradesh High Court.

What did the court decide?

Appeal dismissed along with pending miscellaneous applications, if any; appellant-department directed to comply with the learned Single Judge's order dated 29th May, 2025 within two months; delay of 246 days in filing the appeal condoned (CMP(M) No. 862 of 2026 disposed of). ¶27

State of Hp and Others Vs Happy Kumar — Himachal Pradesh HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

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Issue for consideration

Whether the Division Bench ought to interfere with the learned Single Judge's order directing consideration of the writ petitioner's case for compassionate employment on merits. +1 more

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Court's answer

Only an innocuous order has been passed by the learned Single Judge directing consideration of the case of the writ petitioner on merits.

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Ratio / Principle

No plausible reason is found to interfere with the well-reasoned order passed by the learned Single Judge.

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Key takeaways

The appellant-department is directed to necessarily comply with the learned Single Judge's order (dated 29th May, 2025) within a period of two months.ratio¶25
Delay of 246 days in filing the appeal is condoned and the application CMP(M) No. 862 of 2026 stands disposed of.ratio¶14

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

High Court of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla (G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice, with Bipin Chander Negi, Judge) dismissed LPA No. 363 of 2026 filed by the State of H.P. and others against Happy Kumar. The learned Single Judge had, by order dated 29th May, 2025, quashed the Engineer-in-Chief's order dated 16th May, 2023 (whereby already rejected cases were not to be processed again) and directed consideration of the writ petitioner's case for compassionate employment on merits. Background: the petitioner's father died on 28th September, 2014 while working as a Baildar on a regular basis with the appellant-department when the petitioner was a minor; the mother's employment-assistance case was rejected on 27th July, 2021 after an inordinate delay; the son applied after attaining majority. Holding the Single Judge's order innocuous, the Division Bench found no plausible reason to interfere, directed the appellant-department to comply with the said order within two months, and dismissed the appeal together with pending miscellaneous applications. Delay of 246 days in filing the appeal was condoned (CMP(M) No. 862 of 2026).

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA

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CMP(M) No. 862 of 2026 in LPA No. 363 of 2026 Decided on : 18.06.2026

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State of H.P. and others ...Appellants

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Versus

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Happy Kumar …Respondent.

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Coram

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Hon’ble Mr. Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice.

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Hon’ble Mr. Justice Bipin Chander Negi, Judge.

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Whether approved for reporting?¹

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For the appellants : Mr. Sidharth Jalta, Deputy Advocate General. For the respondent : Mr. Shrawan Dogra, Sr. Advocate, with Ms. Bhanvi Negi, Advocate.

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G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice (Oral)

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CMP(M) No. 862 of 2026

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Keeping in view the averments made in the application,

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duly supported by the affidavit of the official, delay of 246 days in filing the appeal is condoned.

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The application stands disposed of.

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LPA No.363 of 2026

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Learned Single Judge has only directed consideration of

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the case of the petitioner for compassionate employment after quashing the order dated 16^th May, 2023, whereby a direction had

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1 Whether the reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the Judgment? Yes

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been issued that already rejected cases may not be processed again by the Engineer-in-Chief. The learned Single Judge found that the employee had died on 28^th September, 2014 while working as a Baildar on a regular basis with the appellant-department and the petitioner was a minor at that time. The case for employment assistance of the mother of the petitioner was rejected on 27^th July, 2021 after an inordinate delay. Thereafter, the son had applied for compassionate employment after attaining age of majority. Apparently, on account of the fact that the order dated 16^th May, 2023 had been passed by the Engineer-in-Chief not to process the rejected cases, the writ petition was allowed. Thus, the grouse of the petitioner was only that his case had not been considered on merits and could not be considered covered by the rejection of the case of the other legal heirs.

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In such circumstances, we are of the considered opinion

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that only an innocuous order has been passed by the learned Single

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Judge directing consideration of the case of the writ petitioner on merits and, therefore, we do not find any plausible reason, as such, to interfere with the well-reasoned order passed by the learned Single Judge.

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Keeping in view the fact that the order was passed way back on 29^th May, 2025, we deem it fit that the appellant-department shall necessarily comply with the said order within a period of two

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months from today. Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed, so also, the

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pending miscellaneous applications, if any.

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(G.S. Sandhawalia) Chief Justice

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(Bipin Chander Negi) Judge

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18^th June, 2026 (Tarun Singh)