Sail And Anr. vs Awadhesh Singh And Ors. on 2 November, 2000
"10. Taking a comprehensive view of the present O.A. it is quite obvious that Sri K.C.Patra had died on
his way to duty. While riding the bike his head reeled and he fell down unconscious on the road. The
judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in SAIL & Another vs. Awadhesh Singh &Ors. (2001) 10 SCC 621
had specifically stated that a Memorandum of Agreement is not a statutory scheme and would be
unenforceable in an application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. However, the point in dispute
in the above case was whether the Memorandum of Agreement with the National Joint Committee for
Steel Industry permits an appointment on the death of an employee to one of the dependents of the
deceased employee if some other dependent of the deceased employee is already in service. The facts in
the present case are different. No other employee of the applicant's family is inservice and therefore, the
issue of compassionate appointment to the applicant no.2 due to the death of his father while going to
duty is quite open. The Memorandum of Settlement between the Management of RSP and Rourkela
Shramik Singh quite clearly stipulates that when an employee dies while going to work his ward should be
eligible for compassionate appointment (Section-3.4.5.1.(f)].