The Chhattisgarh High Court has ruled that a family member’s employment in a low-paid government job cannot automatically be used to deny another dependent a compassionate appointment. The decision came from a Division Bench led by Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal, which upheld an earlier order granting relief to the petitioner.
The case involved a man whose father, a sanitary worker with the Ambikapur Municipal Corporation, died while in service. The petitioner applied for compassionate appointment under state policy, but his request was rejected because his mother was already employed as a Safai Karmachari. He argued that her income was too small to sustain the family and pointed out that others in similar situations had been granted appointments in the past.
The Municipal Corporation appealed, citing a 2013 policy that bars compassionate appointments if any family member is in government service. The argument was that earlier discretionary provisions allowing consideration of financial hardship had been removed.
The High Court, however, observed that compassionate appointment is not a right but a humanitarian measure designed to provide immediate financial relief to families who lose their main breadwinner. The judges stressed that authorities must assess the actual financial condition of the family rather than reject applications on technical grounds.
The Bench concluded that the mother’s low-paid job did not mean the family was financially secure. It held that denying relief without examining the family’s hardship defeats the purpose of the scheme. The appeal was dismissed, and the petitioner’s appointment was upheld.
