The need for immediacy in providing compassionate appointment and disentitling relief due to undue delay.

JUDGMENT

Jyoti Singh, J. (Oral)--Present writ petition has been filed by the Petitioner seeking compassionate appointment and for quashing the impugned orders dated 15.12.2017, 14.05.2018 and 31.05.2018 by which his request for compassionate appointment was rejected on the ground that his deceased father was a Work Charge employee and was not covered under the policy in question.

2. The facts in brief are that Petitioner is the only surviving son of his deceased father Sh. Arun Kumar Sharma who was employed as Regular Work Charge employee with Urban Shelter Improvement Board, Government of NCT of Delhi (`DUSIB'). Petitioner's father expired on 24.12.2000 at the age of 36 years and his mother also expired when he was 4 years old. At the time of his father's death, Petitioner was a minor and upon becoming a major he represented to the Respondents on 03.07.2015 and 03.11.2016 to appoint him on compassionate grounds.

3. It is the case of the Petitioner that all requisite documents such as matriculation certificate, ITI certificate, bio-data etc. were submitted with the Respondents and they were also apprised of his financial condition. Another representation was made by the Petitioner on 22.12.2017, however, he was not given any appointment.

4. Counsel for the Petitioner submits that compassionate appointment is granted in accordance with the Circular dated 23.02.2017 which refers to detailed Guidelines of the Government of India laid down by DoPT. As per the policy, first priority is given to families who are living in extremely indigent circumstances and having children less than 12 years of age and no other source of livelihood such as rent etc. and next consideration is given to cases where family is in an indigent condition and has minor children less than 18 years of age with no other source of employment. Petitioner is an orphan and with no source of income except a meagre amount of family pension, which too has been stopped on the ground that he is over 25 years of age.

5. Respondents No. 2 to 4, on the other hand, contend that Petitioner's deceased father worked as a Work Charge employee with the DDA till 24.12.2000 and was not a regular employee. There is no policy which permits the Respondents to grant compassionate appointment to the family of Work Charge employees. Moreover, the Petitioner has approached this Court belatedly inasmuch as the official records pertaining to his date of birth show that he attained majority on 05.11.2011 and yet he waited for applying until 03.07.2015 and even thereafter filed the present writ petition in 2019. The argument is that the purpose of compassionate appointment is to provide an immediate succour to a family who has lost an earning hand and Courts have repeatedly rejected belated claims for compassionate appointment.

6. I have heard the learned counsels for the parties and examined their respective contentions.

7. It is not disputed that Petitioner's deceased father expired on 24.12.2000. As per the affidavit of the Respondents No. 2 to 4, Petitioner attained majority in 2011, which is not refuted by the Petitioner, however, the application for compassionate appointment was made for the first time only on 03.07.2015. The application was rejected by the Respondents on 15.12.2017 but the Petitioner filed the present writ petition in 2019, which is 8 years after he attained majority and was eligible to apply. There is substance in the objection of the Respondents that the writ petition raises a belated claim for compassionate appointment and Courts have repeatedly deprecated the practice of approaching the Courts years after the cause of action arises on account of death of a family member. In this context, I may refer to a recent judgment of the Supreme Court in State of West Bengal v. Debabrata Tiwari and Others, 2023 SCC OnLine SC 219. In the said case, the Supreme Court first referred to the earlier decisions of the Supreme Court on the rationale behind the policies or sche