Compassionate appointment cannot be stopped only on the basis of merit, why did Chhattisgarh High Court have to say this? Understand in 5 points

Chhattisgarh High Court has given an important decision regarding compassionate appointment. The court said that if the dependent of a deceased employee does not fulfill the essential qualifications for the post of teacher, then his demand for compassionate appointment cannot be rejected just because of this.

A single bench of Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey canceled the order of Durg District Panchayat, in which the demand for appointment of a dependent was rejected on the grounds of educational qualification. The court has directed the administration to consider giving compassionate appointment to a sanctioned and vacant Class IV post as per the qualification of the petitioner.

What is the whole matter?

1. The matter is related to Rakesh Kumar Verma, resident of Durg district. Rakesh’s father Chaman Lal Verma was working as Assistant Teacher Panchayat in the Panchayat Department. After his death on 15 October 2015, the family was in financial crisis.
2. Rakesh had applied for compassionate appointment on 23 September 2016. However, on July 30, 2018, the District Panchayat rejected the application saying that Rakesh did not have the required educational qualification for the post of teacher. The administration’s argument was that he was not eligible for appointment to the post of teacher.
3. During the hearing of the case, Rakesh’s lawyer told the court that there have been changes in the rules related to compassionate appointment from time to time. According to the policy of the year 2014, there was a provision for direct appointment to the post of assistant teacher to the dependents of the deceased teacher, whereas later the rules were changed to make arrangements for appointment to other posts like Gram Panchayat Secretary.
4. The High Court accepted that the purpose of compassionate appointment is to bring a family out of financial crisis and not to limit it to just one post. The court said that the administration should take the decision keeping in mind the qualification of the dependent and the available posts.
5. The court canceled the old order of the District Panchayat, terming it wrong and directed that consideration should be given to completing the appointment process within four months.