Authorities Often Remain Oblivious To Law, Flood Courts With Cases And Clog Roster: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has observed that the often times the authorities remain oblivious to the law of the land which leads to fooding of courts with cases and clogging the roster.Dealing with a case where an un-educated petitioner approached the Court against his own contractual compassionate appointment, Justice Manju Rani Chauhan held “It has been experienced that in some cases the responsible Government authorities exercise its discretion travelling beyond not only statutory provisions of the rules, which are framed to safeguard the interest of person in destitution like the petitioner and his family herein, who have been in penury due to sad demise of the sole breadwinner (petitioner's father), but also they frequently act in defiance of the settled position of law. Authorities often remain oblivious to the law of the land, which resultantly floods a number of cases in the court and ultimately clogs its roster.”Petitioner's father had died in-harness. His mother wrote to the authorities to grant him compassionate appointment when he attains majority. Subsequently, in 2007, petitioner was appointed as a conductor under the Dying-in-Harness quota in the U.P. State Road Transport Corporation.Since the petitioner was not aware of the nature of his appointment and the settled law regarding it, he approached the Court against his contractual appointment. Petitioner relied on various judgments of the Allahabad High Court for the same.Counsel for respondent-corporation argued that the petitioner could not challenge his contractual appointment after working for so many years. The Court observed that “The State and its instrumentalities are presumed to act fairly and reasonably in terms of the mandate of Article 14 of the Constitution of India and to protect the interest of the public at large especially at the time of discharging the duties towards those who are not aware of nuances of law and procedure.”The Court relied on Urban Improvement Trust, Bikaner v. Mohan Lal, where the Apex Court held that State must attempt to eliminate unnecessary litigation which clogs the Courts and hampers speedy justice. Justice Chauhan held that it was upon the Corporation, who is aware of the law, to not issue such an appointment letter to the petitioner and the petitioner could not be made to suffer for the carelessness of the Corporation. Accordingly, the Court directed the Corporation to look into the matter and do the needful. Case Title: Sumit Kumar Singh v. State of U.P. and 3 others [WRIT - A No. - 19165 of 2025]Click Here To Read/Download Order

Authorities Often Remain Oblivious To Law, Flood Courts With Cases And Clog Roster: Allahabad High Court

Upasna Agrawal

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