A.S. Oka, J.

1. The petitioner's father was in the employment of the Central Railway. He died in harness on 12th August 2003. The petitioner made an application for grant of employment on compassionate ground. By the impugned communication dated 6th December 2016, the respondent rejected the said application on the ground that the marriage between the petitioner's mother and the petitioner's father was solemnized during the subsistence of first marriage of the petitioner's father. The question which arises in this petition is whether the petitioner could have been denied compassionate appointment notwithstanding the provisions of section 16 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (for short “the said Act of 1955”).

2. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner pressed into service a decision of a Division Bench of this Court in the case of Union of India and Anr. Vs. V.R. Tripathi, Judgment and order dated 1st April 2016 in Writ Petition No.910 of 2015. He submits that this judgment holds that even if a son or a daughter of an employee is born from a second marriage which is not valid, in view of section 16 of the said Act of 1955, compassionate appointment cannot be denied t