Daughter's Application For Compassionate Appointment Cannot Be Rejected Merely Because She Subsequently Married: Rajasthan HC

The petitioner submitted that her now deceased father used to work as a senior English teacher with the Department of Education, Government of Rajasthan and that he died on 29.11.2008. The petitioner, being unmarried at that time, filed an application for compassionate appointment on 12.12.2008, days after her father's death, under the Rajasthan Compassionate Appointment of Dependents of Deceased Government Servants Rules, 1996. After one year of submitting the application, the petitioner solemnized her marriage.

The petitioner further submitted that for a period of four years, the matter remained pending and ultimately, the respondents declined to provide compassionate appointment to her. Aggrieved by the decision of the authorities, the petitioner approached the High Court asking for the issuance of an appropriate writ quashing and setting aside the impugned order of the respondents denying her compassionate appointment and for directing them to appoint the petitioner at a suitable post.

The petitioner, by placing reliance on the decision in Sonu Devi v. State of Rajasthan and Others, S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 9022 of 2014, argued that she was entitled to compassionate appointment being the unmarried daughter of the deceased government employee and the application having been filed within time.

The respondents, on the other hand, argued that the petitioner being married, was not entitled to compassionate appointment.

The single bench of Justice Inderjeet Singh, after hearing the parties, allowed the writ petition and passed an order directing the respondent authorities to consider the petitioner for compassionate appointment along with consequential benefits within a period of three months.

"This writ petition filed by the petitioner deserves to be allowed; for the reasons, firstly, admittedly, at the time of submitting the application for compassionate appointment the petitioner was unmarried; secondly, the objection raised by the respondents regarding marriage of the petitioner is not sustainable as the petitioner solemnized marriage after one year of submitting the application for compassionate appointment."

The Court placed reliance on the decision in Sonu Devi v. State of Rajasthan and Others to reach its finding.

Case Title: Kshama Chaturvedi v. State of Rajasthan and Others

Case No: S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 7366 of 2013

Coram: Justice Inderjeet Singh

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Raj) 252 

Click Here To Read/Download the Order