The Supreme Court on March 3 rejected some applications for ‘compassionate appointment’ that were filed by the dependents of deceased government employees in West Bengal.
Key points
- A bench of Justice Krishna Murari and Justice BV Nagarathna underlined that compassionate appointment is not a vested right of such dependents of a deceased employee.
- In its decision, the apex court cited its rulings from 2008 and 2014 in the cases of ‘Mumtaz Yunus Mulani vs. State of Maharashtra’ and ‘State Bank of India vs. Surya Narain Tripathi’ respectively, to say that the existence of a policy issued by the State Government is a sine qua non for making appointments on compassionate basis.
- The apex court ruled that the absence of a policy governing compassionate appointments to posts under local authorities in West Bengal, the court refused to grant the same.
- The concept of compassionate appointments can be traced to the Indian Constitution’s Article 39, which is under the Directive Principles of State Policy and talks about the right to livelihood.
- It aims to provide employment on compassionate grounds to the dependent family members of a government servant who dies in harness or retires on medical grounds, leaving the family without any source of sustenance.
- According to the DoPT’s office memorandum dated January 16, 2023, these appointments can only be made for “Group ‘C’ posts against the direct recruitment quota.
- According to instructions on “Compassionate Appointment under Central Government” given by the DoPT, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions on August 2, 2022, compassionate appointments can extend to dependent family members of a government servant who: Dies while in service (including death by suicide); Retired on medical grounds.
- The measure can also extend to the family members of an Armed Forces employee who dies during service; is killed in action; or is medically boarded out and is unfit for civil employment.
- Compassionate appointments are made by either the Joint Secretary in charge of administration in the Ministry or Department concerned.
(Source: The Indian Express)
