IMPORTANT POINTS
(1) Compassionate Appointment – Appointment on compassionate grounds is given only for meeting immediate unexpected hardship which is faced by family by reason of death of bread earner – When an appointment is made on compassionate grounds, it should be kept confined only to the purpose it seeks to achieve, idea being not to provide for endless compassion.
(2) Compassionate appointment is not a vested right and same is relative to financial condition and hardship faced by dependants of deceased government employee as a consequence of his death.

JUDGMENT :

B.V. NAGARATHNA, J.

1. The present appeals have been filed assailing the judgment and common order of the High Court of Calcutta, dated 30th September, 2019, in a batch of appeals being MAT 859 of 2018 with CAN 6137 of 2018 and connected matters. By the impugned judgment and common order, the Division Bench of the High Court set aside the order of the learned Single Judge of the High Court dated 05th July, 2018, passed in W.P. No. 2739 (W) of 2016 and connected matters and directed the Director of Local Bodies, Burdwan Municipality and the concerned authority in Ranaghat and Habra Municipalities to consider the application made by the Respondents-Writ Petitioners seeking appointment on compassionate grounds. The Division Bench of the High Court also identified the scheme in light of which the said applications would have to be considered and decided.

2. The present appeals concern claims of the Respondents-Writ Petitioners, who are heirs of employees of Burdwan, Ranaghat and Habra Municipalities, who died in harness for compassionate appointment to posts in the concerned municipalities. All these appeals concern common questions as to the entitlement of such persons to be considered for compassionate appointment and whether any scheme of the State Government supports their claim for compassionate appointment. Further, since the case of all the Respondents is the same, the facts concerning the Burdwan Municipality alone may be succinctly stated as under:

2.1. The case of the Respondents-Writ Petitioners concerning Burdwan Municipality is that based on the applications received from the heirs of the deceased employees working under different categories, the Burdwan Municipality directed an enquiry by a three-member committee comprising of the Chairman of Burdwan Municipality (Respondent No. 6 herein); the Executive Officer of the Burdwan Municipality (Respondent No. 7 herein) and the Deputy Director of Local Bodies, Burdwan Division, to determine whether the respondents were entitled to the appointment on compassionate grounds.

2.2. That on the basis of the report submitted by the enquiry committee and after following the criteria set in the West Bengal Municipal, Employees’ (Recruitment) Rules, 2005, the Board of Councillors of Burdwan Municipality in its meeting held on 30th May 2013, approved a list of 62 eligible candidates for the purpose of recruitment in Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ posts in the said Municipality. The names of the respondents figured in the said list.

2.3. That the Chairman of the Burdwan Municipality vide Memo dated 12th June, 2013, forwarded a list approved by a resolution passed in the meeting of the Board of Councillors on 30th May, 2013, along with an inspection/enquiry report and other testimonials to the Director of Local Bodies, Government of West Bengal (Respondent No. 4), for approval of appointment on compassionate grounds. The names of the Writ Petitioners appeared in the list of eligible candidates under Group ‘C’ under the exempted category, dependents of persons who died in harness.

2.4. That on 7th June 2014, the Chairman, Burdwan Municipality, Respondent No. 5, forwarded the proposed list of eligible candidates for appointment on compassionate grounds under a Memo bearing number 512/XII-6, to the Director of Local Bodies, Government of West Bengal, (appellant herein), and requested the Director of Local Bodies to look into the matter sympathetically.

2.5. That since the Director of Local Bodies or the Government of West Bengal did not take steps pursuant to the receipt of the list of candidates, Debabrata Tiwari (Respondent No. 1) filed a Writ Petition bearing No. 3243 (W) of 2015 before the High Court of Calcutta seeking appointment on compassionate grounds under the relevant exempted category. The Secretary of the Burdwan Municipality submitted before the High Court that Respondent No. 1 was eligible for being considered for appointment on compassionate grounds, under the exempted category of