IMPORTANT POINTS
Appointment without following any procedure does not confer any right on the appointee.
It is the substance and not form of the application that matters.

JUDGMENT

T.S. Thakur, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. These appeals arise out of similar but different orders passed by the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam whereby the High Court has allowed the claim for compassionate appointment made by the respondents and directed the institutions concerned to appoint them to posts against which they are otherwise eligible for appointment. The factual backdrop in which the writ petitions came to be filed by the respondents and eventually allowed is different in each case but the underlying principle on which the said petitions have been allowed and the provisions on the basis whereof the same have been allowed being common, we propose to dispose of these appeals by this common judgment.

3. In Civil Appeal arsing out of Special Leave Petition (C) No.7556 of 2008 father of respondent No.5 who was working as a ‘Peon’ in a school known as SHGSHS, Kadakkodu, died-in-harness on 14th October, 2000. Respondent No.5 was a minor aged about 16 years at that time. He attained majority on 21st April, 2002. His mother all the same applied for a compassionate appointment under the prevalent Compassionate Employment Scheme to the Deputy Director (Education) who informed her that respondent No.5 could apply to the management for an appointment as and when he attained majority. The petitioner accordingly applied for appointment as a Sanskrit Teacher on 7th February, 2005. It is not in dispute that he had the requisite qualification for appointment against the said post.

4. The post of a Lower Grade Sanskrit Teacher fell vacant in the school on 1st June, 2005, but respondent No.5 was informed that his claim will be considered in the next arising vacancy of a non-teaching staff in the school. Even though a representation made to the District Educational Officer resulted in a direction to the Manager of the institution to consider the claim of respondent No.5 yet an appointment order was issued by the Manager in favour of the appellant herein in preference to the claim made by the former.

5. Aggrieved by the denial of an appointment in his favour, respondent No.5 filed W.P. (C) No.21503/2006 in the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam. During the pendency of the said petition a vacancy of a ‘Peon’ arose in the school, which was offered to him by the Manager. The High Court disposed of the writ petition permitting respondent No.5 to accept the offer made to him by the Manager and to file a separate petition for redressal of his grievance if he continued to feel aggrieved. His appointment as ‘Peon’ thus remained without prejudice to the respondent-petitioner’s claim against the post of Junior Sanskrit Teacher in the school.

6. Pursuant to the liberty reserved in his favour, respondent No.5 filed W.P. (C) No.16399/2007 in the High Court praying for a certiorari quashing the appointment of the appellant herein and a mandamus directing the Manager to appoint respondent No.5-writ petitioner in his place as a full time Junior Sanskrit Teacher. A single Bench of the High Court allowed the said petition by an order dated 10th December, 2007 quashing the appointment of the appellant herein and directing the Manager to appoint respondent No.5 in his place effective from 1st August, 2006. The above order passed by the High Court was then assailed by the appellant herein in Writ Appeal No.149 of 2008 which appeal has been dismissed by the High Court in terms of the order under challenge before us.

7. Appearing for the appellant, Mr. C.S. Rajan, learned senior counsel, contended that appointments on compassionate basis are made only to give succour to a family in financial distress on account of the untimely death of an earning member. Such appointments cannot, therefore, be made where the family concerned has managed to survive for several years before the claim for appointment is made by someone who was eligible for such appointment. He contended that the claim for appointment in the instant case had been made nearly five years aft