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Union of India & Ors. v. Md. Samim Azad

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 126Decided 1 Feb 2019
Civil Appeal No. 1382 of 2019
Justice R. Banumathi · Justice R. Subhash Reddy

Background

The respondent's father worked as a "halt contractor" (selling train tickets at a small unsignalled railway station) under a contract that expired in 2010 and was never renewed. After the father fell ill, the respondent was allowed to sell tickets in his place on humanitarian grounds, and after the father's death in 2016, the Railways invited fresh applications for the contractor's post, in which the respondent participated but was not selected by draw of lots. The respondent then challenged the new appointment in the Calcutta High Court, claiming he was entitled to preference as his late father's heir under a 1999 Railway circular. The Division Bench of the High Court agreed and directed the Railways to appoint him.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the heir-preference clause in the circular could only benefit someone succeeding an existing, valid contract, and since the father's contract had already expired in 2010, well before his death in 2016, there was no subsisting contract for the respondent to inherit preference from. Being permitted to sell tickets temporarily on compassionate grounds did not make him an "existing contractor." The Court also noted the Railways' submission that the father had been drawing a government salary as a school teacher while also holding the halt contractorship. Finding no legal or fundamental right violated, the Court set aside the High Court's order and allowed the Railways' appeal, with no order as to costs.

Lesson Learnt

Being allowed to informally continue a deceased relative's work on humanitarian grounds does not create a legal right to inherit that person's contract or job: statutory or policy "preference for heirs" clauses apply only where the underlying contract was still validly in force.

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

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