E-Paper
HC seeks Punjab govt response on plea against job to Kangar’s son-in-law
His son-in-law Gursher Singh, whose father Bhupjit Singh had died in 2011, was appointed as the excise and taxation inspector in 2020
The Punjab and Haryana high court has sought response from the Punjab government in a plea challenging appointment on compassionate grounds of the son-in-law of former Congress cabinet minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar.
The three-time MLA from Rampura Phul in Bathinda, Kangar, served as the revenue minister in Captain Amarinder Singh’s government from 2017. He had joined the BJP in June 2022 but returned to the Congress fold last month. His son-in-law Gursher Singh, whose father Bhupjit Singh had died in 2011, was appointed as the excise and taxation inspector in 2020.
The HC bench of justice HS Brar has sought the response on the plea from one Paramjit Singh Sandhu, a Barnala resident, who had petitioned in August 2023 challenging the appointment and arguing that Gursher Singh has been appointed in violation of a policy dated November 21, 2002 which provides for compassionate appointment on the ground that the family is indigent and deserves immediate assistance for relief from financial destitution on account of death of the sole bread-winner.
“.. as per the policy, the maximum period during which an appointment on the compassionate grounds can be considered is five years, whereas in the present case, Gursher Singh’s father had passed away on September 28, 2011 and after a gap of nine years on October 19, 2020, he applied for the same. He is not even a case of financial destitution rather he is a man of substantial financial fortune and has been appointed by circumventing the rules only because he is the son-in-law of the then cabinet minister,” it was submitted.
The petitioner had relied upon a 1994 judgment in which the high court had ruled that the object of the compassionate appointment is to enable the penurious family of the deceased employee to tide over the sudden crisis and it is not to provide employment.
The high court, while seeking response within two weeks, has adjourned the case for January 9, 2024.
