CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has set aside a Single Judge’s order directing the State government to provide compassionate appointment to the daughter of a deceased government employee, observing that such appointment was a concession and not an absolute right.
A Division Bench comprising Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice Krishnaswamy Govindarajan said that compassionate appointment was a concession and not a constitutional scheme of appointment. “Compassion can never be claimed as an absolute right,” the Bench observed.
The government employee had died in service on May 9, 2007, leaving behind two children, aged 11 and seven. His elder daughter applied for compassionate appointment in 2016, nearly nine years after his death. The Single Judge, after hearing her plea, directed the State to provide her a job.
The State challenged the order before the Division Bench, contending that the daughter was ineligible for compassionate appointment as her application had been made nine years after the employee’s death. It submitted that the applicable scheme required applications to be filed within three years of the employee’s death.
The daughter was a minor and therefore not an eligible legal heir for appointment at the time of her father’s death. Her mother had also died, and the application was consequently made beyond the prescribed period, the State contended.
While considering the appeal, the Bench said the ill-effects of the compassionate appointment scheme must also be weighed and a pragmatic balance maintained to ensure its proper implementation. “If the scheme infringes the rights of citizens, the State must revisit it and introduce appropriate conditions to protect their constitutional rights,” it said.
The Bench stressed that the sanctity of public appointments and the constitutional guarantee to citizens must be protected. It therefore interfered with the Single Judge’s order and allowed the State’s writ appeal.