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The Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation & Others v. Revat Singh

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 2061 of 2015)Decided 20 Feb 2015
Civil Appeal No. 2061 of 2015
Justice Dipak Misra · Justice Prafulla C. Pant

Background

The respondent's father, a driver with the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation, died in harness in 2006. The respondent, who had only passed 8th standard and later obtained a driving licence valid only for light (not heavy) vehicles, sought compassionate appointment as a driver, but the Corporation rejected this since he was not qualified for either the driver or conductor post. A Single Judge of the Rajasthan High Court directed the Corporation to consider him for the driver's post, and a Division Bench declined to interfere, though it noted the ruling was based on the special facts of the case.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court relied on its own precedents (I.G.(Karmik) v. Prahalad Mani Tripathi, Steel Authority of India v. Madhusudan Das, State of Gujarat v. Arvindkumar T. Tiwari) holding that compassionate appointment is a concession, not a right, and cannot be granted to a post for which the candidate is not qualified: courts cannot direct relaxation of eligibility criteria fixed by the rules. Since the respondent was neither a matriculate nor held a heavy-vehicle driving licence, the Court held the High Court erred in directing his consideration for the driver's post. The appeal was allowed, but the Court let stand the respondent's separate engagement (already offered by the Corporation during the proceedings) as Artisan Grade III.

Lesson Learnt

Compassionate appointment schemes exist to provide minimum relief to a deceased employee's family, but they cannot override the minimum eligibility qualifications fixed for a post: courts will not direct an employer to relax those requirements, however sympathetic the circumstances.

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

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