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2007 DIGILAW 423 (DEL)

LT. COL. R. S. VERMA v. UOI

2007-02-28

S.N.AGGARWAL, T.S.THAKUR

body2007
T. S. THAKUR, J. ( 1 ) IN this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution, the petitioner prays for a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to consider his case for permanent secondment in Director General Quality Assurance on the basis of his merit and qualification. A further mandamus directing the respondents to post the petitioner to a place where the hospital has adequate Oncology, gastroenterology and Psychiatric treatment facility, has also been prayed for. ( 2 ) THE petitioner is serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army. In the year 2001, he was transferred from Delhi to DGQA, Mumbai on the compassionate ground of the illness of his son. He has now been posted out of the said organization and directed to join Head Quarter 9 Corps, EME Branch which is located in Yeol, Himachal Pradesh. The petitioner's grievance in the present writ petition is that in terms of a policy formulated by the Central government, officers who have served with Director General Quality Assurance for a period of three years can be permanently absorbed in the organization on the basis of their merit and qualification. He claims to have made a request for such absorption in September, 2006 followed by a reminder dated 18th December, 2006. The respondents have not according to the petitioner considered that request so far. The other grievance which the petitioner has advanced in the present writ petition is against his posting to Head Quarter 9 Corps, EME Branch on termination of his posting with Director General Quality Assurance. According to the petitioner, the illness of his son entitles him to get another compassionate posting to a place where adequate hospital facilities are available. ( 3 ) MR. S. M. Garg argued that the petitioner's son is a cancer patient who has been under treatment for a number of years past. It was on that basis that the petitioner had made a request for a compassionate posting to a place where adequate hospital facilities for treatment of his ailing son are available. That request has, according to the learned counsel, been ignored by the respondents while posting the petitioner to Head Quarter 9 Corps, EME Branch at h. P. which does not have proper hospital facilities. He further argued that the petitioner had applied for permanent absorption in DGQA which request too has been ignored by the respondents. That request has, according to the learned counsel, been ignored by the respondents while posting the petitioner to Head Quarter 9 Corps, EME Branch at h. P. which does not have proper hospital facilities. He further argued that the petitioner had applied for permanent absorption in DGQA which request too has been ignored by the respondents. ( 4 ) ON behalf of the respondents, it is submitted by Ms. Jyoti Singh that while the petitioner's request for permanent absorption in DGQA could be considered, the petitioner's grievance against his posting in Head Quarter 9 corp is wholly unjustified. She submitted on the basis of the record available with the respondents that the petitioner has been on compassionate posting continuously ever since September, 1995. She pointed out that the petitioner was posted on the compassionate ground of the illness of his child between september 1995 to October 1997 at Mumbai. He was from 1997 to 1999 posted again on compassionate ground at Meerut. He was then given another compassionate posting from 1999 to 2001 to Delhi Cantt. Since he claimed further compassionate posting on the ground of illness of his son, he was posted to dgqa, Delhi between 2001 to 2003. It was eventually in 2003 that the petitioner was given yet another compassionate posting in Mumbai with DGQA which was then extended till January, 2007 when he was posted to Head Quarter, 9 Corps, EME branch. It was submitted on the basis of Army Headquarter's policy dated 18th april, 1991 that any request for compassionate appointments shall be considered for a period of two years so that other officers with similar problems can also be accommodated and that while considering the request for any compassionate posting, the total peace/field tenures and sector profile of officers shall have to be considered by the concerned authorities. It was urged that having regard to the number of postings which the petitioner has already been granted for the past twelve years, his request for any further accommodation on the ground of illness of his son was not justified. It was urged that having regard to the number of postings which the petitioner has already been granted for the past twelve years, his request for any further accommodation on the ground of illness of his son was not justified. Even so, the petitioner can, according to the counsel, join at the present place of his posting and make a representation supported by requisite material showing that there was any urgency in posting him to a place closer to a good medical center in which event the representation shall be examined and appropriate orders on the same passed. ( 5 ) IN so far as the request for permanent absorption in DGQA is concerned, according to Ms. Singh, the request is under consideration but no orders have been passed so far on the same, as the respondents are in the process of reviewing the policy governing absorption. ( 6 ) WE have given our anxious consideration to the submissions made at the bar and perused the record. Keeping in view the fact that the petitioner has already availed of compassionate postings between 1995 to 2007, we see no reason why he should not join at the place to which he has been transferred. The petitioner would, however, be free to make a representation supported by adequate evidence to justify any further posting on compassionate grounds by shifting him to a place nearer to a good medical centre. In the event of any such representation being made, the respondents shall consider the same and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law expeditiously but not later than three months from the date the representation is submitted. ( 7 ) IN so far as the request for absorption is concerned, the respondents are, as already noticed above, willing to examine the said request in accordance with prevalent policy subject to any modification that the government may choose to make with the same. Since the request has been pending for the past nearly six months, interest of justice would be sufficiently served if we direct that the same shall be examined and final orders passed on the same by the Government within a period of four months from today. The writ petition is with the above directions disposed of leaving the parties to bear their own costs.