Only ‘unmarried or widowed daughter’ who are dependent upon deceased female Government servant at the time of death are eligible for compassionate appointment : Supreme Court

Law Point : Only 'unmarried or widowed daughter' who are dependent upon deceased female Government servant at the time of death are eligible for compassionate appointment service matter advocate in CAT Jaipur

Brief of Case : Present Appeal has been filed against the impugned Judgment and Order passed by the High Court of Karnataka at Bengaluru in Writ Petition No. 5609/2017 by which the High Court has allowed the said Writ Petition preferred by the Respondent and has quashed and set aside the order dated 09.12.2015 passed by the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal, Bengaluru in Application No. 6396 of 2015. The High Court has directed the Appellants to consider the application of the Respondent-Original Writ Petitioner for grant of compassionate appointment, the original Respondent has preferred the present appeal.

The background of the present case is that one Smt. P. Bhagyamma, the mother of the Original Writ Petitioner was employed with the Government of Karnataka as Second Division Assistant at Mandya District Treasury. She died on 25th March, 2012. That Original Writ Petitioner, who at the relevant time was a married daughter at the time when the deceased (Smt. P. Bhagyamma) died, initiated a divorce proceedings for divorce by mutual consent under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. By its judgment and decree a decree of divorce by mutual consent was passed by the lower Court. On the very next day the Original Writ Petitioner submitted an application to appoint her on compassionate ground on the death of her mother. Through an order the application for appointment on compassionate appointment came to be rejected on the ground that there is no provision provided under Rule 3(2)(ii) of Karnataka Civil Services (Appointment on Compassionate Grounds) Rules 1996 (Rules) for divorced daughter. That the Original Writ Petitioner made an application before the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal after a period of approximately 2 years from the date of rejection of her application for appointment on compassionate ground. The Tribunal dismissed the said application on the ground that there is no provision for appointment on compassionate ground for divorced daughter. Thereafter, the Original Writ Petitioner approached the High Court against the order passed by the Administrative Tribunal.

It is clear from the material on record that only 'unmarried daughter' and 'widowed daughter' who were dependent upon the deceased female Government servant at the time of her death and living with her can be said to be 'dependent' of a deceased Government servant and that 'an unmarried daughter' and 'widowed daughter' only can be said to be eligible for appointment on compassionate ground in the case of death of the female Government servant. Rule 2 and Rule 3 of the Rules do not include 'divorced daughter' as eligible for appointment on compassionate ground and even as 'dependent'. As observed and even as held by this Court in the case of N.C. Santhosh v. State of Karnataka the norms prevailing on the date of consideration of the application should be the basis of consideration of claim for compassionate appointment. The word 'divorced daughter' has been added subsequently by Karnataka Civil Services Appointment on Compassionate Grounds (Amendment Rules, 2021. Therefore, at the relevant time when the deceased employee died and when the Original Writ Petitioner-Respondent made an application for appointment on compassionate ground the 'divorced daughter' were not eligible for appointment on compassionate ground and the 'divorced daughter' was not within the definition of 'dependent.'

The Director of Treasuries in Karnataka and Ors Vs. V. Somyashree

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