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Steel Authority of India Limited v. Gouri Devi

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 755Decided 18 Nov 2021
Civil Appeal No. 6910 of 2021
Justice M.R. Shah · Justice Sanjiv Khanna

Background

An employee of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) died in 1977. His eldest son applied for a compassionate appointment at the time, but was turned down, and that rejection was never challenged and became final. Eighteen years later, in 1996, the deceased employee's widow filed a fresh petition asking that her second son instead be given a compassionate appointment. The Central Administrative Tribunal and later the High Court both directed SAIL to reconsider the second son's case, and SAIL appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that a gap of 18 years before raising this fresh claim was fatal to it, regardless of merits. Relying on its own earlier rulings, the Court reiterated that compassionate appointment exists to give a family immediate relief right after a breadwinner's death: if a family has managed without that appointment for a long period, the very purpose of the scheme no longer applies, and granting it later would unfairly bypass the normal, merit-based recruitment process for others. The Court also noted that neither the Tribunal nor the High Court had actually engaged with this delay issue. It set aside both the High Court and Tribunal orders and ruled that the second son was not entitled to compassionate appointment.

Lesson Learnt

A claim for compassionate appointment must be pursued promptly after the bread-earner's death; long, unexplained delay, even of a fresh claim relating to a different family member, can by itself defeat an otherwise sympathetic case.

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

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