Archit Butail v. UOI and Others

Himachal Pradesh HC5 Mar 2026CWP/2498/2026

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Archit Butail v. Union of India & others; High Court of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla; CWP No. 2498 of 2026; decided 05.03.2026; G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice (author) with Bipin C. Negi, Judge; writ petition disposed of in terms of LPA No.169 of 2025 (Union of India and another v. Atul Sharma and others, 16.07.2025); fresh consideration by Empowered Committee; policy dated 23.04.2018; related SLPs dismissed 30.01.2026 (lead case Union of India & another v. Atul Sharma and others); pending miscellaneous applications disposed; no statute cited; no quantum involved.

What did the court decide?

Petition disposed of in terms of the judgment in LPA No.169 of 2025 (Union of India and another v. Atul Sharma and others, decided 16.07.2025); pending miscellaneous application(s), if any, also stand disposed of. ¶¶22

Archit Butail Vs UOI and Others — Himachal Pradesh HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

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Issue for consideration

Whether the issue raised in the present petition is covered by this Court's decision in LPA No.169 of 2025 (Union of India and another v. Atul Sharma and others), so that the petition is to be disposed of in the same terms, i.e., consideration afresh of each individual case by the Empowered Committee as per the policy dated 23.04.2018.

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Court's answer

The present writ petition is disposed of in terms of this Court's earlier judgment in LPA No.169 of 2025 (Union of India and another v. Atul Sharma and others, decided 16.07.2025).

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Ratio / Principle

Pending miscellaneous application(s), if any, shall also stand disposed of.

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Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

CWP No. 2498 of 2026, Archit Butail v. Union of India and others, High Court of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla; oral decision dated 05.03.2026 delivered by G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice, with Bipin C. Negi, Judge. Learned counsel for both sides agreed that the issue in the petition is covered by this Court's decision in LPA No.169 of 2025 (Union of India and another v. Atul Sharma and others, along with connected matters, decided 16.07.2025), portions of which were quoted: each individual case there was to be considered afresh by the Empowered Committee within four months as per the parameters of the policy dated 23.04.2018, applicants remaining free to seek their remedy in law upon rejection. The Court also recorded that a bunch of Special Leave Petition(s) in the same matter had been dismissed on 30.01.2026, lead case 'Union of India & another Vs. Atul Sharma and others'. Accordingly, the present petition stands disposed of in terms of the aforesaid LPA judgment, and pending miscellaneous application(s), if any, also stand disposed of. No impugned order is identified in the text and no statutory provision is cited.

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2026:HHC:5869 IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH SHIMLA

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CWP No. 2498 of 2026 Date of Decision : 05.03.2026

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__________________________________________________________ Archit Butail …..Petitioner Versus Union of India & others ...Respondents.

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_________________________________________________________ Coram:_

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The Hon’ble Mr. Justice G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice. The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Bipin C. Negi, Judge.

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Whether approved for reporting?¹

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______________________________________________________ For the Petitioner: Mr. Abhinav Mohan Goel, Advocate. For the Respondents: Mr. Balram Sharma, Deputy Solicitor General of India with Mr. Rajeev Sharma, Advocate, for respondents No. 1 & 2.

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Mr. Pranay Pratap Singh, Additional Advocate General, for respondents No. 3 & 4.

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_______________________________________________________ G.S. Sandhawalia, Chief Justice (Oral)

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Notice. Mr. Balram Sharma, Learned Deputy Solicitor General of India, accepts notice for respondents No. 1 & 2-Union of India and Mr. Pranay

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1 Whether the reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?

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Pratap Singh, learned Additional Advocate General, accepts the same on behalf of the respondents-State. 2. Learned Counsel for the parties are agreed that the issue in question is covered by the decision of this Court in LPA No.169 of 2025 , titled Union of India and another versus Atul Sharma and others, along with connected matters , decided on 16.07.2025. The relevant portion of the said judgment reads as under:

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“10. Learned Single Judge found that the appellant Union of India could not in the first set of cases, deny the fact that the applications had been forwarded during currency of the Scheme and therefore, consideration had not been done. In such circumstances, he came to the conclusion that at least the consideration had to be made as per the terms of the policy dated 23.04.2018 (Annexure P-1). Thus, we cannot find any fault as such with the reasoning of the learned Single Judge to this extent.

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11. Counsel for Union of India also admits that since each and every individual case will have to be considered within the parameters of the said policy, it would be appropriate that a decision making is done by the Empowered Committee by fixing a time frame as such. We are also of the considered opinion that the findings as such that the consideration was to

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be done by the Empowered Committee, thus cannot be faulted in any manner, once it is the case of the State also that they had forwarded their cases to the Empowered Committee. If that is so, then the decision making as such had to be done as per the parameters of the notification and as noticed above, has now been done in one case though, the rejection is here.

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12. In such circumstances, we are of the considered opinion that present LPAs are liable to be disposed of in the above terms along with writ petitions that each and every individual case has to be considered afresh by the Empowered Committee. Let the said exercise be done within a period of four months from today. Needless to say that it will be open to the applicants, as such, to seek their remedy in accordance with law in case there is rejection of their case.

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13. All pending applications stand disposed of accordingly.”

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We are now further informed that a bunch of Special Leave Petition(s) were also dismissed on 30.01.2026, the lead case of which is Union of India &

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another Vs. Atul Sharma and others.

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