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Malaya Nanda Sethy vs State of Orissa

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 617Decided 20 May 2022
Civil Appeal No. 4103 of 2022
M.R. Shah · B.V. Nagarathna

Background

The appellant's father, an Assistant Sub-Inspector in the Odisha Excise Department, died in service in January 2010. The appellant applied the same year for compassionate appointment as a Junior Clerk under the 1990 Rehabilitation Assistance Rules, since his mother was medically unfit to take a government job. The department sat on the application for years, calling for medical and income reports on and off, and never decided it, until in 2021, after the 1990 Rules had been replaced by new 2020 Rules, the authorities directed that his claim be considered under the new (less favourable, Group-D-only) scheme instead. The Orissa High Court upheld this, relying on a three-judge Supreme Court ruling that the rules in force at the time of considering an application govern, not the rules in force at the time of death; the appellant then approached the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Court noted a genuine conflict in its own precedents on whether the rules applicable are those in force on the date of the employee's death or on the date the application is decided, but deliberately left that larger legal question open. Instead, it decided the case on its specific facts: the appellant had done everything right and met every eligibility condition under the 1990 Rules at the time he applied, and the only reason the 2020 Rules came to govern his case was five-plus years of unexplained departmental inaction and delay. Holding that a citizen should not be penalised for the state's own callousness, the Court quashed the High Court's judgment and directed the authorities to consider and grant the appointment under the 1990 Rules within four weeks, with monetary benefits running only from the date of actual appointment.

Lesson Learnt

Compassionate appointment claims must be decided promptly, the Court directed that such applications generally be decided within six months, and a family should not lose the benefit of favourable rules merely because the government dragged its feet in processing the application.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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