MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently directed the State government to consider a woman’s plea seeking age relaxation for a government job on compassionate grounds. The 43-year-old petitioner, P Kavitha, said her mother, who was a sanitary worker at Dindigul corporation during the pandemic, had died due to Covid-19 in April last year.
Though Kavitha had crossed the upper age limit (40 years) fixed by the government, Justice GR Swaminathan observed, “It is well settled that even if an upper age limit has been prescribed in the relevant rules or government order, it is always open for the State government to grant relaxation as a special case in appropriate circumstances.”
The judge said the government could consider Kavitha’s request for age relaxation by keeping three aspects in mind- she belongs to the Arunthathiyar community; is a widow with two minor children to take care of; both her sibling and mother, a front-line worker, died due to Covid-19.
He directed the Department of Municipal Administration to take a decision on providing age relaxation to the woman within three months.