The Gauhati High Court was hearing the plea filed by one seeking directions to the authorities to treat the period of absence as a period spent on duty with all consequential benefits. (AI-generated image) The Gauhati High Court has held that a Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) constable reinstated after being dismissed for overstaying leave to care for his cancer-stricken mother is not entitled to back wages, observing that his reinstatement was granted on grounds of “sympathy and leniency” rather than because the dismissal was illegal. Justice Rajesh Mazumdar was hearing the plea filed by one seeking directions to the authorities to treat the period of absence from May 7, 2019, to January 1, 2024, as a period spent on duty with all consequential benefits, including seniority, back wages , increments of pay, etc.  “In the opinion of this court, the reinstatement of the petitioner was not a result of any fault in the procedure adopted by the respondent authorities to keep the petitioner out of service.…