Service law: Appointment – Compassionate appointment – Respondent sought compassionate appointment on account of death of his father who was working with the appellant – The policy of compassionate appointment was in force on the date of his application – However, his request was not acceded to on the ground that the implementation of the policy was kept in abeyance on account of the consideration of new policy – When new policy came into effect, respondent was sought to be granted the benefit under the new policy in terms whereof Rs 3 lakh was offered to him and in the alternative was offered a temporary post – Respondent declined both the options – After 7 years, he filed writ petition – High Court disposed of the writ petition with direction to the appellant to consider his application in a time bound manner as per policy – The appellant rejected the request – On second writ petition, the respondent was relegated to remedy of a civil suit – By impugned judgment, the relief was granted in favour of the respondent – On appeal, held: The fundamental principle is that there is no inherent right to obtain a compassionate appointment and such compassionate appointment has to be in accordance with the existing policy as the objective is to ameliorate the condition of the family at the relevant stage of time and it is the deviation from the rule of merit – There is more than one impediment in the way of the respondent – There was delay in approaching the Courts for redressal – The very objective of providing immediate amelioration to the family is extinguished – The earlier policy having been abolished and the new policy having coming into force, the application was considered under the new policy and the options available were offered to the respondent who failed to avail the same – The offer of solatium could be the only remedy available, more so at this stage of time – The solatium of Rs.3 lakh was offered earlier – As per the current policy, the solatium is revised to Rs. 5 lakhs – In the interest of justice, a sum of Rs. 5 lakhs is directed to be paid to the respondent – Solatium.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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