[Cites 2, Cited by 0]
Jharkhand High Court
Sweety Lakra vs The State Of Jharkhand Through The Chief ... on 1 December, 2025
Author: Ananda Sen
Bench: Ananda Sen
2025:JHHC:35750
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
WP(S) No.6750 of 2025
-----
Sweety Lakra, daughter of late Bilson Lakra, resident of village
Palkot, PO and PS Palkot, District Gumla, Jharkhand
... Petitioner(s).
Versus
1.The State of Jharkhand through the Chief Secretary, having its
office at Project Building, PO and PS Dhurwa, District Ranchi
2.Deputy Commissioner, Lohardga
3.District Forest Officer, Lohardaga
4. Divisional Forest Officer, Lohardaga ... Respondent(s).
CORAM : SRI ANANDA SEN, J.
------
For the Petitioner(s) : Mr. Shubham Gautam, Advocate
For the State : Mr. Achyut Keshav, AAG-V
.........
03 /01.12.2025: Heard the parties.
2. In this writ application the petitioner prays for the following
relief:
"for issuance of a writ of or in the nature of mandamus
commanding upon the respondent nos. 2 and 4 to appoint the
petitioner on the compassionate appointment as because the
father namely Bilson Lakra was the Forest Guard who died in
harness on 25.06.1998 whose murder was committed by
unknown miscreants."
3. Admittedly the father of the petitioner died on 25.06.1998 in
harness when the petitioner was aged only about 5 years and upon
attaining age of majority she claims for compassionate
appointment. The petitioner has filed a writ petition being WP(S)
No. 5648 of 2023 which was disposed of by this Court vide order
dated 12.08.2024 directing the respondents to consider the claim of
the petitioner for compassionate appointment. Her claim for
compassionate appointment was rejected by the respondents vide
letter no. 637 dated 18.06.2025 in view of Circular No. 4735 dated
19.05.1992.
4. The whole object of granting compassionate employment is
to enable the family to tide over the sudden crisis. The Hon'ble
Supreme Court in the case of "Fertilizers & Chemicals
2025:JHHC:35750
Travancore Ltd. v. Anusree K.B." reported in 2022 SCC OnLine
SC 1331 has held as under:
"18. Thus, as per the law laid down by this Court in the
aforesaid decisions, compassionate appointment is an
exception to the general rule of appointment in the public
services and is in favour of the dependents of a deceased
dying in harness and leaving his family in penury and without
any means of livelihood, and in such cases, out of pure
humanitarian consideration taking into consideration the fact
that unless some source of livelihood is provided, the family
would not be able to make both ends meet, a provision is
made in the rules to provide gainful employment to one of the
dependants of the deceased who may be eligible for such
employment. The whole object of granting compassionate
employment is, thus, to enable the family to tide over the
sudden crisis. The object is not to give such family a post
much less a post held by the deceased."
5. Further, the Hon'ble Supreme Court in "State of W.B. v.
Debabrata Tiwari" reported in (2025) 5 SCC 712 on the point of
delay in paragraph 35 has held that-
"35. Considering the second question referred to above, in
the first instance, regarding whether applications for
compassionate appointment could be considered after a
delay of several years, we are of the view that, in a case
where, for reasons of prolonged delay, either on the part of
the applicant in claiming compassionate appointment or the
authorities in deciding such claim, the sense of immediacy is
diluted and lost. Further, the financial circumstances of the
family of the deceased, may have changed, for the better,
since the time of the death of the government employee. In
such circumstances, courts or other relevant authorities are
to be guided by the fact that for such prolonged period of
delay, the family of the deceased was able to sustain
themselves, most probably by availing gainful employment
from some other source. Granting compassionate
appointment in such a case, as noted by this Court in Hakim
Singh [Haryana SEB v. Hakim Singh, (1997) 8 SCC 85 :
1998 SCC (L&S) 31] would amount to treating a claim for
compassionate appointment as though it were a matter of
inheritance based on a line of succession which is contrary to
the Constitution. Since compassionate appointment is not a
vested right and the same is relative to the financial condition
and hardship faced by the dependants of the deceased
government employee as a consequence of his death, a
claim for compassionate appointment may not be entertained
2025:JHHC:35750
after lapse of a considerable period of time since the death of
the government employee."
6. Taking into consideration the aforesaid judgments, I find
that at the time of death of the employee she was aged about 5
years because of which her representation was rejected. Further, in
case of long delay either on part of the applicant in claiming
Compassionate appointment or the authorities in deciding such
claim, the sense of immediacy gets diluted and the financial
situation of the family of the deceased got changed. In this case the
family of the deceased survived the financial crisis and 27 years
have passed. In view of aforesaid fact the very purpose of
compassionate appointment stands defeated due to the long lapse
of time.
7. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed.
(ANANDA SEN, J.)
01.12.2025
Tanuj/CP-2
Uploaded on 02.12.2025
