Karnataka High Court directs NWKRTC to appoint widow on compassionate grounds, calls for humane policy beyond age limits

The Karnataka High Court has directed the Managing Director of the North West Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) to frame a humane policy on compassionate appointments for dependents of employees who die in service. The Court also ordered the Divisional Controller, KSRTC, Gadag Division to appoint the widow of a deceased NWKRTC employee as a Group D staff member, without applying the usual upper age limit prescribed under service rules.

The petitioner, a widow and sole survivor with no children, had approached the High Court after her request for appointment was rejected by the corporation on the ground that she had crossed the maximum age limit of 45 years. Her husband, employed as a controller at a depot, had died on June 25, 2021, after which she applied for compassionate appointment to a Class-D post, being eligible only for that position on account of her educational qualifications.

Justice Suraj Govindaraj, while allowing her plea, stressed that the very purpose of compassionate appointments is to ensure that the dependents of a deceased employee are not left without livelihood or security. He remarked:

“The Managing Director of respondent No.2/Road Transport Corporation is also requested to look into these kinds of matters to formulate an appropriate humane policy, which would be in the best interest of the employees and their family members in the event of the employee expiring during the course of employment.”

The Court rejected the corporation’s contention that the petitioner was ineligible since she was 45 years and 7 months old on the date of her application. It held that a strict application of the age limit in such exceptional cases would defeat the very purpose of social justice.

Observing that the widow had no children and no one else to support her, the Court concluded that the corporation’s decision was not humane and had caused injustice. It accordingly directed her appointment and urged the corporation to adopt a compassionate and socially just approach in similar cases in the future.