High court orders the Himachal Pradesh government to hire the deceased employee's daughter within four weeks

 

In a case involving employment on humanitarian grounds, the Himachal Pradesh High Court ruled that no citizen may be subject to discrimination on the basis of residence.

This ruling was made following a plea submitted by Sandeep Kaur of Bharatgarh, Ropar, Punjab, which was heard by a division bench that included Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Ajay Mohan Goel.

The petitioner's father worked as a forest guard for HP State Forest Development Corporation, where he passed away on the job on July 16, 2020, having served the company for 21 years and 6 months. The petitioner is the deceased person's daughter. On the basis of compassion, the petitioner submitted an application to work as a clerk in 2021.

The petitioner obtained an income certificate and provided it to the respondent department, but she was unable to provide a character certificate issued by a tehsildar or executive magistrate because she is a resident of Punjab, where senior superintendents of police are responsible for issuing these documents. She then provided the respondent department with the certificate after obtaining it from the senior superintendent of police. She was unable to present the genuine certificate because she does not have a permanent residence in Himachal Pradesh.

The petitioner's attorney argued that in order to be employed, a person just needed to be an Indian citizen in accordance with the respondent corporation's bylaws.