Don’t delay appointments on compassionate grounds: SC

CUTTACK:  Quashing an Orissa High Court order the Supreme Court has directed government authorities across the country to consider and decide applications for appointment on compassionate grounds in case of the untimely death of an employee while in service, but not beyond a period of six months.

The SC division bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice BV Nagarathna said, “We are constrained to direct as above as we have found that in several cases, applications for appointment on compassionate grounds are not attended in time and are kept pending for years together. As a result, the applicants in several cases have to approach the concerned High Courts for the consideration of their applications.

Even after such a direction is issued, frivolous or vexatious reasons are given for rejecting the applications. Once again, the applicants have to challenge the order of rejection before the High Court which leads to pendency of litigation and passage of time, leaving the family of the employee who died in harness in the lurch and in financial difficulty.”

“Further, for reasons best known to the authorities and on irrelevant considerations, applications made for compassionate appointment are rejected. After several years or are not considered at all as in the instant case,” the SC Bench said in its order on May 20.

On October 26, 2021 an Orissa High Court division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BP Routray order in a case in which a person was denied appointment on compassionate ground after ten years of filing an application for it. 

While setting aside the Single Judge Bench of Justice Biswanath Rath’s order the division bench had ruled that claim should be considered as per the amended Rules that were prevalent at the time of consideration of the application and not the Rules that were prevalent during the death of the government servant.The SC Bench said, “If the object and purpose of appointment on compassionate grounds as envisaged under the relevant policies or the rules have to be achieved then it is just and necessary that such applications are considered well in time and not in a tardy way.” 

“We have come across cases where for nearly two decades the controversy regarding the application made for compassionate appointment is not resolved.  This consequently leads to the frustration of the very policy of granting compassionate appointment on the death of the employee while in service.  We have directed that such applications must be considered at an earliest point of time,” the SC said.