IMPORTANT POINT
Compassionate appointment being an exception to the general rule the appointment has to be exercised only in warranting situations and circumstances existing in granting appointment and guiding factors should be financial condition of the family.

Headnote:SERVICE LAW - Compassionate Appointments - Entitlement to claim relief - Guiding factors should be financial condition of the family - Appellant Bank had formulated a scheme for employment on compassionate grounds - Father of respondent who was working as a Clerk-cum-Cashier in the Bank died on 12-8-2001 - He was a pension optee - Respondent applied for employment in the Bank on compassionate ground - Competent Authority declined request taking into consideration the net terminal benefits of Rs.5,47,495/- received by the family after deducting the liability including housing loan and personal loan - Writ petition filed by respondent allowed by the High Court holding that respondent being eligible as per the Scheme formulated by the Bank was liable to be appointed on compassionate grounds - Impugned judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court was based on a number of wrong facts which were contrary to the facts available on record - Whether impugned judgment of the High Court is sustainable - (No) - Respondent was not entitled to claim relief under the Scheme because the financial status of the family was much above the Criterion fixed in the scheme.
       Held : When an employee dies and any one of the dependent mentioned in clause 2 (c) of the appointment on compassionate ground scheme formulated by the Bank can forward an application as per the said scheme. Consequently, the dependent does not automatically become entitled to get employment. The right that accrues on the applicant is a right to get preferential treatment against the general principle of appointment, subject to the discretion of the Bank. Further the possession of relevant qualification does not create any vested right on the applicant to get appointed to a post specified by the scheme.(Para 17)
       From the foregoing facts and circumstances, it is seen that the respondent’s case was considered under the old scheme and not under the new scheme which came in later and in any case the respondent is not entitled to claim relief under the new scheme also because the financial status of the family is much above the criterion fixed in the new scheme. It is also pertinent to mention that in the new scheme only the widow is entitled for compassionate employment and not the offspring like the respondent. The respondent, in any case, is dis-entitled to seek employment under the new scheme. The recent development is that the scheme of compassionate employment has been completely scrapped in the appellant-Bank w.e.f. 21.12.2005 as circulated vide staff circular 5236 dated 29.12.2005. The Bank has also specifically denied the averment that the Bank has given employment to the persons who have received financial assistance.(Para 27)
       In the present case, by declining the application submitted by the respondent after the proper consideration of the same in the light of the relevant parameters the appellant-Bank cannot be said to have acted in an arbitrary manner regardless of the constitutional principles.(Para 35)
       It is also settled law that the specially constituted authorities in the rules or regulations like the competent authority in this case are better equipped to decide the cases on facts of the case and their objective finding arrived on the appreciation of the full fact should not be disturbed. Learned Single Judge and the Division Bench by directing appointment has fettered the discretion of the appointing and selecting authorities the Bank had considered the application of the respondent in terms of the statutory scheme framed by the Bank for such appointment. After that even though the Bank found the respondent ineligible for appointment to its service, the High Court has found him eligible and has ordered his appointment. This is against the law laid down by this Court. It is settled law that the principles regarding compassionate appointment that compassionate appointment being an exception to the general rule the appointment has to be exercised only in warranting situations and circumstances existing in granting appointment and guiding factors should be financial condition of the family. The respondent is not entitled to claim relief under the new scheme because the financial status of the family is much above the Criteria fixed in the new scheme.(Para 36)

JUDGMENT

Dr. AR. Lakshmanan, J. - Leave granted.

2. The present appeal is filed by the Union Bank of India against the final judgment dated 25.2.2005 of the Division Bench of the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam in Writ Appeal No. 883 of 2003 where the High Court has upheld the judgment of the learned single Judge which ordered the appellant-Bank to grant employment to the respondent in terms of the directions of the learned single Judge on compassionate grounds.

3. It is settled law that the compassionate employment has to be granted in very rare necessitous circumstances.

4. The appellant-Bank in order to reduce the individual human discretion, had formulated a Scheme for employment on compassionate grounds in terms of the judgment of this Court in Umesh Kumar Nagpal vs. State of Haryana & Ors, (1994) 4 SCC 138. The Scheme provides that the compassionate employment is meant only for cases where the bereaved person’s family is in grave penury.

5. The Scheme further provides the system for computation of the financial condition of the concerned family including the various heads of recurring and fixed incomes receivable by the family to determine their entitlement for the compassionate employment. It is pertinent to mention that the pension was not payable in the Bank prior to 1994 when an option for the same was given to the employees for the first time. The availability of pension to the family of the deceased employee is also one of financial parameters for computation of the financial condition of the family because, as aforesaid, the said option was exercised by less than half of the employees. The said Scheme was subsequently amended in 2003 to provide cash compensation in some of the deserving cases, who were otherwise qualified as per income norms, when the compassionate employment was not feasible.

6. As already noticed, the Bank circulated a Scheme for appointment of dependants of deceased employees on compassionate grounds. A copy of the Circular and the Scheme annexed to the same is annexed as Annexure P-1 collectively.

7. Some of the salient features of the Scheme read thus :

“UNION BANK OF INDIA

DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL

PERSONNEL POLICY SECTION

SCHEME FOR APPOINTMENT OF DEPENDANT OF DECEASED

EMPLOYEES ON COMPASSIONATE

GROUNDS

WHEREAS it is deemed expedient and necessary to provide for appointment of dependants of deceased employees dying in harness and leaving his/her family in penury and without any means of livelihood the Bank hereby frames the following scheme providing for and regulating the method of appointment in the clerical/subordinate cadre on compassionate grounds of widow, widowers and children/dependents of its employees who die while in service.

1.SHORT TITLE AND COMMENCEMENT

............................................... ..............................................

2.DEFINITIONS

............................................... ..............................................

3.APPOINTMENT UNDER THE SCHEME :

The Bank may, in its discretion, appoint in the Bank in any of the posts mentioned hereunder, the widow or widower or son (includes legally adopted son) or a daughter of a deceased employee of the Bank or a near relative indicated by the widow/widower (in case the deceased employee has left behind no children of his own eligible for appointment) on whom she/he will be wholly dependent and who would give in writing that he/she will look after the family of the deceased employee, if the widow or widower or son or daughter or a near relative, as the case may be, fulfils the criteria for appointment under the Scheme.

Where the deceased employee was a widow/widower the Bank may exercise its discretion to appoint the next elder in the family. However, in the case of an unmarried deceased employee, the Bank may exercise its discretion to appoint his/her brother or sister subject to clause 5(iii) and (iv) of the Scheme. In the case of a widower, however, (a husband of a deceased female employee) will be considered for

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2006 Supreme(SC) 737

IMPORTANT POINTCompassionate appointment being an exception to the general rule the appointment has to be exercised only in warranting situations and circumstances existing in granting appointment and guiding factors should be financial condition of the family.

Cases Referred (6)

IMPORTANT POINT
Compassionate appointment being an exception to the general rule the appointment has to be exercised only in warranting situations and circumstances existing in granting appointment and guiding factors should be financial condition of the family.