1 2026:CGHC:1671 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPS No. 6495 of 2021 1 - Ajay Ram S/o Late Manharan Aged About 29 Years On The Date Of Application (01/01/1989) Years, Lt. Father Posted As D.L. Operator Hasdev Area S.E.C.L. Lahera Bandh, R/o Q.No. M/559, Bijuri Mining Colony Post Bijuri District Anuppur (M.P.), District : Anuppur, Madhya Pradesh ... Petitioner versus 1 - Coal India Ltd Through Its Chairman 10 Netaji Subhash Road Calcutta (West Bengal), District : Kolkata, West Bengal. 2 - South Eastern Coalfields Limited, Chairman-Cum-Managing Director, Seepat Road Bilaspur, District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh, District : Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. 3 - Area General Manager, South Eastern Coalfields Limited, Hasdev Area, District Koria Chhattisgarh, District : Koriya (Baikunthpur), Chhattisgarh. 4 - Sub Area Manager, South Eastern Coalfields Limited, Bijuri- Behrabandh Sub Area, Bijuri, Hasdev Area, District Anuppur (M.P.), District : Anuppur, Madhya Pradesh. ... Respondents For Petitioner : Mr. Vijay K. Deshmukhi, and Ms. Tejashvi Mandavi, Advocates For Respondents : Mr. Vinod Deshmukh, Advocate Hon'ble Shri Justice Sachin Singh Rajput Order On Board 12/01/2026 1. Instant writ petition under Article 226 / 227 of the Constitution of 2 India has been filed by the petitioner seeking following reliefs: “10.1Your Lordships may be please to issue a writ of certiorari calling for the records relating to the issuance writ petition. 10.2 Your Lordships may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate order or direction thereby set-aside the impugned order/letter dated 05/06/2021 Anneuxre P-7 issued by R/4 and impugned arbitrary action of the respondent department. 10.3 Your Lordships may be pleased to direct the respondent’s i.e. the Coal India/S.E.C.L. be directed to consider the petitioner case for compassionate appointment as per law. 10.4 Your Lordships may be pleased to the respondent’s i.e. the SECL be directed to implement AnnexureP/4 for the petitioner application for compassionate appointment. 10.5 Your Lordships may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate order or direction thereby directing the respondent No. R/1 to R/3 issuing compassionate appointment order for the petitioner and set-aside the impugned order dated 05/06/2021 P/7 issued by R/4. 106 Your Lordships may be pleased to grant any other relief as your lordship may deem fit.” 2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that father of the petitioner namely -Manharan was working as S.D.L Operator (Side Dump Lodder) with the respondents- Department. He died in harness on 23.04.2016 during the course of employment with the respondents-Department. The petitioner, being son of the deceased employee, made an application to the respondents-Department for grant of dependent employment. Earlier, since his case was not considered for dependent employment, he filed a writ petition before this Court, which was registered as WPS No. 4968/2020 and the same was disposed of vide order 07.01.2021, directing the respondents to 3 to 5 3 therein to take a decision on the application of the petitioner for dependent employment within a period of 90 days from the date of receipt of copy of that order. The respondents-SECL vide impugned order dated 05.06.2021 Annexure P/7 rejected the candidature of the petitioner for dependent employment holding that he was more than 35 years of age on the date of filing of application i.e. 20.09.016, which is impermissible in National Coal Wage Agreement. He submits that the in the impugned order, the basis for determining the age of the petitioner was the entries made by his father in the service record whereas the document have been appended by the petitioner including Aadhar Card, Voter ID and the transfer certificate, which goes to show that the date of birth of the petitioner is 21.01.1989, thus, admittedly, the petitioner was below the age of 35 years on the date of application. Therefore, the impugned order deserves to be set aside. 3. Learned counsel for the respondent submits that the voter ID card, Aadhar card and Transfer Certificate are not a piece of evidence to be looked into for determination of age, because in the service record, in the year 1987, the petitioner’s father made an entry with regard to age of the petitioner as six years. If the petitioner was not born in 1987, there was no occasion for his father to make an entry of his age to be six year, thus, the impugned order does not suffer from any perversity or irregularity. Therefore, it is liable to be set aside. 4. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. 5. Be that as it may, there is no dispute to the fact that the petitioners father was working with the respondents- SECL and died in harness. Counter claims have been made by the petitioner as well as by the respondent with regard to age of the petitioner. The petitioner is placing his argument on the 4 basis of Aadhar Card, Voter ID and transfer certificate issued in which, the date of birth of the petitioner is mentioned as 21.01.1989 whereas the respondents-Department has placed the service record of the petitioner’s father determining the age of the petitioner. Disputed question of fact is involved in the instant case, thus, this Court in the factual facts of the case, deems fit it necessary to place the petitioner’s case before the Age Determination Committee constituted by the respondents-Department. Thus, at this stage, this writ petition is disposed of directing the respondents- Department to constitute the Age Determination Committee within a period of 4 weeks’ from today. The respondents shall inform the petitioner the date upon which he would be subjected to appear before the Age Determination Committee, who would take a decision in accordance with law within a further period of 15 days from the date of appearance. However, this Court has not expressed any opinion on merit of the case. If the finding of the Age Determination Committee goes against the petitioner, he would be at liberty to file a fresh petition to challenge the same. 6. With the aforesaid direction/observation this instant writ petition is disposed of. Sd/- (Sachin Singh Rajput ) Judge Ami AMITA DUBEY Digitally signed by AMITA DUBEY Date: 2026.01.16 18:27:01 +0530