Hyderabad High Court: Women entitled to job of father after death

Chennai: In a major relief to married daughters, the Madras High Court has reiterated that the government cannot deny compassionate appointment to the daughter of the deceased government servant on the ground of marriage.

Allowing a petition from V. Rajalakshmi, Justice D. Hariparanthaman directed the Virudhunagar district collector to provide compassionate appointment to her within 8 weeks.  

The father of the petitioner was working as a revenue assistant in the office of the excise officer, Sivakasi division, Virud-hunagar. He died on June 1, 2009 while in service, leaving his wife, son and daughter as legal heirs.

The petitioner got married prior to the death of her father on February 3, 2006.

After getting NOC from the other legal heirs, when she submitted an application for compassionate appointment, the same was declined by the collector on the sole ground that she got married prior to the death of her father.

Quashing the order, the judge cited his earlier order and said, “From the said judgment, it is clear that this court held in categorical terms that the state cannot deny appointment to the daughter of the deceased government servants on the ground of marriage and quashed the government orders denying compassionate appo-intment to the married daughters”.

In his earlier order, the judge had wiped out totally, the discrimination meted out to married daughters in the matter of providing compassionate appointment and had declared as arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional, and quashed a government order which fixed the cut off date for providing compassionate appointment to the married daughter as November 29, 2001.

As per this G.O, the daughters who got married after November 29, 2001 are alone entitled to seek compassionate appointment based on the death of her father/mother, who was a government servant.

Tracing the history relating to compassionate appointment, the judge had in his earlier order said in the original scheme providing compassionate appointment in G.O dated August 3, 1977, there was a total deprivation for married daughters to seek compassionate appointment.

While married sons were eligible to make compassionate appointment, married daughters were ineligible to make application for compassionate appointment.

Later, the government made certain improvements by issuing another G.O dated July 16, 1993, providing compassionate appointment to married daughters of government servant, if the daughter was abandoned by her husband or a divorcee or a widow.

However, discriminatory treatment was not removed in total. While marriage was not a pre-condition prescribed in the matter of providing compassionate appointment to sons of a deceased government servant, the same was placed as a condition in the case of daughters.

Thereafter, another G.O dated August 30, 2010 was issued, providing compassionate appointment to married daughters, if she was unmarried at the time of making application. By issuing the G.O dated June 18, 2012, the government fixed the cut off date as November 29, 2001, the judge had added.