CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has dismissed a writ appeal filed by the Union government and CRPF authorities, while upholding a single judge’s order directing compassionate appointment of the wife of a disabled CRPF personnel to the post of head constable (ministerial cadre). A division bench comprising Justice Dixit Krishna Shripad and Justice Chittaranjan Dash rejected the appeal, observing that the authorities had adopted a rigid and insensitive approach contrary to the object of the compassionate appointment scheme.
The judgement was uploaded on January 19. The case relates to a CRPF constable (ground duty) who suffered acute physical disability in a terrorist bomb blast while on combat duty in Srinagar on January 23, 2007.
He was medically invalidated and discharged from service on March 7, 2014. His wife applied for compassionate appointment, but her request was rejected by the CRPF on June 18, 2020. The couple challenged the rejection before the high court in October 2020.
The petition claimed that she being a graduate with a PGDCA, was qualified for head constable post under the scheme introduced on January 16, 2013. On October 21, 2024, a single judge directed the CRPF directorate to appoint the wife to any vacant post of head constable (ministerial) within two months.
Aggrieved, the Centre filed an intra-court appeal. Rejecting the government’s argument that the wife had failed a written test, the bench said there was no legal requirement of written test of the kind. The court also strongly criticised the authorities’ conduct.