Appointment on compassionate ground concession not a right: SC

Appointment on compassionate ground is a concession not a right and the object of granting such employment is to enable the affected family to tide over a sudden crisis the Supreme Court has saidThe apex court last week set aside the judgement of a division bench of the Kerala High Court which confirmed the verdict of a single judge directing the Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd and others to consider the case of a woman for appointment on compassionate groundA bench of Justices M R Shah and Krishna Murari noted that the father of the woman was employed with Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd and died while on duty in April 1995At the time of his death it noted his wife was serving and therefore not eligible for appointment on compassionate groundAfter a period of 24 years from the death of the deceased employee the respondent shall not be entitled to the appointment on compassionate ground the bench saidAlso Read DHFL case Special Court dismisses statutory bail plea of Wadhawan brothersAccording to the law laid down by the apex court on appointment on compassionate ground equal opportunity for all government vacancies should be provided to all aspirants as mandated under Articles 14 and 16 of the ConstitutionArticle 14 of the Constitution deals with equality before law and Article 16 with equality of opportunity in matters of public employmentHowever appointment on compassionate ground offered to a dependent of a deceased employee is an exception to the said norms The compassionate ground is a concession and not a right the bench said in its judgement delivered on September 30The apex court noted that when the employee had died in 1995 his daughter was a minor On attaining the age of majority she made an application for appointment on compassionate ground the court saidIt also noted that after a period of around 14 years after his death his daughter had submitted an application for appointment on compassionate groundReferring to previous judgements of the top court the bench said as per the law laid down compassionate appointment is an exception to the general rule of appointment in the public services and is in favour of dependants of a person dying in harness and leaving his family in penury and without any means of livelihoodIn such cases out of pure humanitarian consideration a provision is made in the rules to provide gainful employment to one of the dependants of the deceased who may be eligible for such employment the court saidThe whole object of granting compassionate employment is thus to enable the family to tide over the sudden crisis The object is not to give such family a post much less a post held by the deceased the bench saidAllowing the appeal filed by Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd and others against the March this year verdict of the high court the court said that if such an appointment is made now it shall be against the object and purpose for which the appointment on compassionate ground is providedSetting aside the high court judgement it said both the single judge as well as the division bench had committed an error in directing the appellants to reconsider her case for appointment on compassionate groundThe bench noted that her application for compassionate appointment was rejected in February 2018 on the grounds that her name was not in the list of dependants submitted by the deceased employee and that the policy was to give employment to widow or son or unmarried daughter of the employeeIt also noted that in December 2019 the appellants had again rejected her application for appointment on compassionate ground on the grounds that 24 years had lapsed since the death of the employee It also did not meet the primary test of scheme that the deceased employee should be the sole bread winner of his family since his wife was gainfully employed with the Kerala State Health Services Department at the time of his death the bench saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever