CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has recalled an earlier judgement that had dismissed a woman’s petition for issuance of a green card under the Family Welfare Scheme, after finding that she had not been heard on the question of delay before rejecting it.
On Monday, Justice Sashikanta Mishra allowed a review application filed by the woman against the court’s April 25 order, which had dismissed her plea as a “stale claim” owing to her long silence since undergoing tubectomy in 1998.
As per the review petition, the petitioner had undergone endoscopic surgery for ovarian cyst and tubectomy at a private hospital in Cuttack on October 21, 1998. Her husband had later on November 13, 2023 submitted a representation before the director of Family Welfare, Odisha, for issuance of a green card as per the government resolution dated October 19, 1983, which grants certain concessions - including 5% reservation in technical institutions - to those who adopt terminal family planning methods.
The authorities, however, rejected the request on January 6 this year, citing non-availability of hospital records, which had been destroyed during the 1999 Super Cyclone. Challenging this rejection, the petitioner had moved the high court on April 25, but it was dismissed on the ground of delay.
In her review plea, the petitioner contended that “she was not heard on the question of delay but an adverse order was passed against her on such ground”. She argued that the government resolutions of 1983 and 1998 “do not specify any time limit for applying for green card”, and that the authorities had never rejected her claim on grounds of delay but solely due to missing documents.
Accepting these contentions, Justice Mishra observed that the petitioner “was actually not heard on the question of belated filing of the writ petition” and that “the fundamental fact that the government resolutions dated 19.10.1983 and 18.10.1998 do not provide any time period for raising a claim for issue of green card had escaped attention of this court”.
The court held that dismissing the petition as time-barred “amounts to a mistake of fact committed by the court resulting in miscarriage of justice”. “For the foregoing reasons therefore, the application for review is allowed. The judgement dated 25.04.2025 passed by this court is hereby recalled,” the bench directed, ordering the Registry to list the writ petition for fresh hearing.
