Bombay High Court Carves Exception Of Compassionate Appointment For Brother Looking After Deceased's Wife And Child

A division bench of Justices Sandeep Shinde and Vrushali Joshi directed the Education Officer to grant his approval to continue the petitioner’s service in Wadha school under the compassionate appointment category but also upheld the Scheme against the petitioner.

According to the government resolutions dated December 31, 2002 and September 21, 2017 a married deceased’s widow and child are the only persons eligible for compassionate appointment, not the dependent brother. Siblings would be considered only if the man was unmarried.

“Nevertheless, in consideration of the peculiar facts of the case… in such exceptional and special circumstances though we have concurred with the reasons given by the Education Officer while declining the approval, in the interest of justice, we direct the Education Officer to grant the approval to the Petitioner’s appointment, as a special case.”

The exceptional circumstance in the present case was that the deceased’s wife had given her no objection to her brother-in-law’s appointment. Though the petitioner was appointed as a junior clerk in 2013 and an approval was sought from the Education Officer soon after, the Officer rejected the request in 2022. Lastly, the bench noted that “since Petitioner is looking after family of the deceased since 2013, we think, it would not be appropriate to discontinue the Petitioner’s services in the above facts and circumstances.”

Facts of the Case

The petitioner Vinod Budhbaware challenged the Education Officer (Secondary), Zilla Parishad, Wardha’s order dated 20th July, 2022 refusing him approval on compassionate grounds based on the government resolutions.

The petitioner’s brother was an assistant teacher in Shankaranand Vidhyalaly School in Wardha. The petitioner applied for the job after his brother passed away claiming to be solely dependent on the brother. The school appointed the petitioner as a junior clerk following no-objection from the wife, who showed her unwillingness to take up the job.

The headmistress sought sanction for this appointed from the Education officer in 2013 which was refused in 2022.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that despite being completely dependent on his brother, he couldn’t have been excluded from the scheme of appointment as the object is to eke out a livelihood for the deceased’s family.

The government pleader submitted that for the scheme of compassionate appointment an unmarried man’s siblings and a married person’s spouse and children are only to be considered as dependents. The court upheld the scheme but directed the Education officer to make an exception.

“The exclusion of brother of the deceased-employee from consideration for appointment on the compassionate ground, when brother was married and survived by wife and son, cannot be said to be unreasonable or unjust or discriminatory, as sought to be contended,” the court observed.