The Director of Town Panchayat & Ors. vs. M. Jayabal & Anr. Etc.
Background
The respondents' fathers, who worked as sweepers in a Town Panchayat in Tamil Nadu, died in service. The respondents were given compassionate appointments as sweepers, as they themselves had applied for. Years later, and after a long delay, they filed writ petitions claiming they were actually qualified for the higher post of Junior Assistant and should have been appointed to that post instead, also seeking back salary from the date of a later court order. A Single Judge and then a Division Bench of the Madras High Court accepted their claim and directed the authorities to appoint them as Junior Assistants with salary from the date of judgment.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court disposed of eight connected appeals arising from the same High Court judgment and a subsequent review order. It held that compassionate appointment is meant only to provide urgent financial relief to a bereaved family, not a guaranteed route to any post a candidate later claims to be qualified for, and that unexplained, belated claims for a higher post, made only after the applicants had already accepted and worked in the lower post, cannot be entertained. The plea that the respondents were "ignorant" of their right to seek the higher post was rejected, since ignorance of law is not an excuse, and their claim of discrimination compared to others similarly placed could not succeed once no underlying right was established. The Court set aside the High Court's judgment and dismissed the original writ petitions, with no order as to costs.
Lesson Learnt
Compassionate appointment is an emergency measure tied to the post initially applied for and accepted, not a stepping stone to a higher post claimed years later: long, unexplained delay in asserting such a claim, and ignorance of one's legal rights, will not rescue it in court.