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The State of Maharashtra vs Madhuri Maruti Vidhate (Since after marriage Madhuri Santosh Koli)

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 1057Decided 30 Sept 2022
Civil Appeal No. 6938 of 2022
M.R. Shah · Krishna Murari

Background

A government clerk died in service, and his widow was given a compassionate appointment; she too later died while in service. The couple's elder married daughter then sought compassionate appointment, which was rejected in 2011 on the ground that a married daughter could not be treated as dependent. Seven years after the mother's death, the younger married daughter (the respondent) also applied for compassionate appointment; her application was rejected, but the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal and later the Bombay High Court directed the State to consider and grant her appointment.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court reiterated settled principles that compassionate appointment is an exception to the normal merit-based recruitment rule, is a concession and not a right, exists only to help a family tide over the sudden financial crisis caused by the earner's death, and must be assessed against the norms and dependency existing at the time of consideration. Applying these principles, the Court held the respondent could not be said to be dependent on her deceased mother and, in any event, could not claim compassionate appointment after such a long gap (roughly seven years) from the death. It set aside the orders of the Tribunal and the High Court and allowed the State's appeal.

Lesson Learnt

Compassionate appointment is meant to relieve immediate financial distress following an employee's death, not a delayed or inheritable entitlement: claims made years after the death, or by someone not genuinely dependent at that time, are unlikely to succeed.

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

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