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Ajinath Gulab Saykar v. Executive Engineer, Public Works Department, Ahmednagar

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 7363 of 2016)Decided 8 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 7363 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

Ajinath Gulab Saykar appealed to the Supreme Court against a common judgment and a later modified order of the Bombay High Court (Aurangabad Bench), which had decided his claim along with similar claims against the Public Works Department, Ahmednagar. He argued his case was covered by an earlier Supreme Court decision (Fula Bhoru Ughade and others vs. Executive Engineer, PWD, Ahmednagar, decided 11 September 2015), which had enhanced one-time compensation for similarly situated persons from Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 1,00,000.

Decision Breakdown

The Court condoned the delay in filing, granted leave, and found it unnecessary to examine the facts in detail given the limited relief sought. It directed the appellant to make a written representation to the Executive Engineer within one month, which the department was required to consider in light of the earlier Fula Bhoru Ughade judgment. If the appellant was found covered by that precedent, he was to be paid the same enhanced amount of Rs. 1,00,000 within a further month. The appeal was disposed of on these terms.

Lesson Learnt

Where the Supreme Court has already settled a compensation principle for a group of similarly situated people, individuals left out of that earlier round can get the same benefit simply by making a representation to the authority, without needing a fresh full-fledged legal battle.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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