New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has asked the railway ministry to provide a job to a man whose mother died in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast.
The court also imposed costs of Rs.1 lakh on the ministry for the enormous delay in providing employment to him.
The then railway minister had announced Rs.10 lakh compensation to the family of the deceased and job in the railways for a dependent member of the victim.
Faryaz, who moved the high court, had received the compensation but had been running from pillar to post for securing the promised job.
Justice Kailash Gambhir and Justice I.S. Mehta slammed the railway ministry for denying a job to Faryaz and asked the ministry to appoint him within a month and also pay him Rs.1 lakh.
The bomb blast in the Samjhauta Express near Panipat, Haryana, on February 18, 2007 and the consequent fire in the train coaches had resulted in the loss of 68 lives, and injuries to several train passengers including women and children.
“…. What is the sanctity of such spot announcements made by the ministers and other high functionaries when such kind of human tragedy takes place for no fault of the citizens? In our view, when such announcements are made by the government or by any high authority competent to make such announcements, then they cannot be empty or hollow announcements made just for momentary satisfaction of the public, particularly the victims of such mishaps. Therefore, it is totally unfathomable that such on-the-spot announcements made by the ministers or chief ministers ultimately hold no good and are mere hollow promises which are supposedly not meant to be implemented,” the bench said.
Faryaz had challenged the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order which had dismissed his plea seeking a direction to the railways to appoint him as ‘Fresh Face Substitute’ in Pay Band-1 with grade pay of Rs. 1800 per month. The railways had denied him the job saying the petitioner was a married man having four children, and therefore, he was not dependent on his mother and hence not a fit case for getting substitute appointment.
The tribunal relied on the statement of the railways and dismissed Faryaz’s plea.
The high court, however, set aside the tribunal’s November 2014 order and said Faryaz was denied appointment on a most “untenable ground”.