NEW DELHI: The Delhi High court has said the Centre’s policy that an application for a compassionate appointment could be entertained at any point of time after the death of a government servant is contrary to the premise on which such jobs are given.
The court said it was “perplexed” to observe the stand taken by the Centre in a circular dated September 29, 2016, that it has been decided that an application for a compassionate appointment could be entertained irrespective of the passage of time from the date of demise of the government servant.
“Such a policy is contrary to the fundamental premise on which compassionate appointments are granted,” a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar said.
The court’s observations came while dismissing a petition in which a woman sought compassionate appointment for her in CISF 26 years after the demise of her father.
The bench said the compassionate appointment is granted only to enable the family of the government servant, who dies in harness, to tide over the financial distress that the family is plunged into.
“The immediate financial distress that the petitioner’s (daughter) family suffered in the year 1993, obviously, cannot be said to have continued till 2018, when the petitioner made her application.
During this time, the petitioner’s mother raised all her children and provided support for their upbringing and education. Not only that, but she also has been able to marry and settle all her children,” it said.
The woman’s father died in March 1993 and her mother did not make an application for a compassionate appointment soon after his death.
She made the application in 2011 which was rejected on the ground that the man’s wife had not cleared the class 10 boards.
The petitioner said she turned major and completed her graduation in 2013 and made an application for compassionate appointment in 2018.
She had filed a petition, which was disposed of on the statement of the counsel for the authorities that the maximum period of 15 years ‘as prescribed’ has been deleted by way of an amendment via a circular in September 2016.