The Jharkhand High Court recently comprising of a bench of Justice S. N. Pathak granted relief to the married daughter of a deceased employee who was denied compassionate employment by the Jharkhand Urja Vikash Nigam Limited. The bench observed that in the present case the applicant for compassionate appointment was "discriminated" on the ground of gender. (Rita Giri V. The Jharkhand Urja Vikash Nigam Limited)
Facts of the case
The petitioner has prayed for quashing the order, whereby the respondent-JUVNL has rejected the application of the petitioner for compassionate appointment on the ground of her being a married daughter of the deceased employee. Further, prayer has been sought for a direction upon the respondents to provide compassionate appointment to the petitioner on account of the death of her mother, who died in harness on 23.07.2011.
As per factual matrix, the mother of the petitioner, namely, Munni Devi, who was a permanent employee, died on 23.7.2011 while working as Peon in the office of Electric Supply Division, Dhanbad. Thereafter, the petitioner being wholly dependent upon her mother, applied for compassionate appointment on 22.10.2013 in the prescribed form, which was duly received in the office of the respondents. Upon receipt of such an application, the General Manager-cum-Chief Engineer, Dhanbad wrote a letter to the Block Development Officer, Dhanbad for verification of the family details of the petitioner. The petitioner sworn an affidavit to the effect that she is unmarried and her two brothers and one sister have no objection, if a compassionate appointment is given to her. The matter for compassionate appointment of the petitioner was placed before the Compassionate Appointment Committee after a delay of four years.
Contention of the Parties
The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the action of the respondent JUVNL in denying the compassionate appointment to the petitioner, who is the daughter of the deceased employee is not sustainable in the eyes of law. Learned counsel further submitted that the impugned order rejecting the claim of the petitioner for compassionate appointment suffers from gender bias, inasmuch as, if the son of the deceased employee comes within the zone of consideration for employment on compassionate ground, there is no reason as to why, the daughter, whether married or unmarried, should be excluded from the zone, if such daughter is fully dependent upon the deceased employee.
Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents vehemently opposed the contention of learned counsel for the petitioner and submitted that admittedly, the married daughter do not come under the definition of dependent of the deceased employee and hence, no case is made out in favour of the petitioner, who is married daughter of deceased employee.
Learned counsel demonstrated the fact that own sister of the petitioner has filed an objection on 26.6.2014 before the respondent authority stating inter alia that the petitioner got married with one Chandan Sinha and the petitioner by suppressing the real facts, submitted the application for getting the death-cum-retiral benefits on account of death of their mother. She has also stated in her objection petition that she has never given consent for giving the petitioner appointment on compassionate ground.
Court's observations and order
The bench taking note of the contention of the Parties remarked, "At this stage, the submission of learned counsel appearing for the respondents that married daughter do not come with the definition of dependent of the deceased employee, is not tenable in view of law laid down by catena of judicial pronouncements of this Court as well as of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, inasmuch as, the Division Bench of this Court in the case of Madhubala Sinha and other analogues matters (supra) not only held that sister is entitled to be appointed on compassionate ground, but also directed the respondents to include sister within the definition of dependent, which has also been affirmed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court by rejecting the special leave petition preferred by the Central Coalfields Ltd & Ors, in Special Leave to Appeal No. 29678 of 2019."
The bench further observed, "In the case of Putul Rabidas Vs. Eastern Coalfields Ltd. & Ors., reported in 2017 SCC OnLine Cal 13128, and also in the case the State of West
Bengal & Ors. Vs. Purnima Das & Ors., reported in 2017 SCC OnLine Cal 13121, the Full Bench of the Culcutta High Court opined that exclusion of a daughter solely on the basis of her marital status would not be reasonable."
The bench allowing the petition remarked, "As a sequitur to the aforesaid observations, rules, guidelines and legal propositions, I hereby direct the respondent-JUVNL to consider the case of the petitioner for compassionate appointment in place of her deceased mother and pass appropriate orders for appointing her on compassionate ground, so that she could meet the situation of sudden death of sole bread-earner, who had left the family in penury and without means of livelihood.
Let the entire exercise be completed within a period of eight weeks and if there is no other legal impediments, offer of appointment shall be issued within a further period of two weeks. With these observations and directions, the writ petition stands allowed."
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