A short though interesting point to be decided in this writ petition is, whether the married son living separately from the family would be treated as a member of the family of the deceased Govt employee for the purpose of giving kith and kin appointment in the State of Tripura.

2. Nanda Dulal Deb was serving under the Agriculture Department in the post of Agriculture Inspector. He died on 9.3.1997 while in service leaving behind him his wife, two sons and one unmarried daughter. The petitioner is the unmarried daughter. One of the two sons got married and has been living separately in another place under different Gaon Panchayat. The petitioner approached the authority concerned by filing an application dated 11.4.1997 seeking a compassionate appointment. As no appointment has been given the petitioner has approached this Court by filing this application under Article 226 of the Constitution for giving a direction to the respondent Nos 1 and 2.

3. Under Memo dated 8.6.1988 a revised employment policy of the Govt was framed and instruction thereof was given. At paragraph No. VI it is provided that appointment should be given to one of the dependent son/daughter or a relative who looks after the family of the deceased employee under the Die-in-harness Scheme. Thereafter, by another Memo dated 8.1.1992 a clarification was made with regard to the definition of the term 'family' which reads as follows:

“2. It is hereby clarified that the definition of 'family' as mentioned in the memoranda under reference shall be as under:

'Family' means a Government servant. Wife and husband, as the case may be, and legitimate children. .

Note: (a) The term 'children' includes sons and un-married daughters,

(b) Married sons even if they live separately should be treated as a member of the family. ...

4. On 31.5.1995 another Memo was issued and it was revised employment

policy and paragraph 4 of which relates to employment under Die-in-harness

Scheme, is also reproduced below:

“(4) Employment to dependents of persons who die-in-harness. In order to ensure that the 'family' of a Govt servant who dies while in service does not suffer from extreme financial difficulties, employment would be provided to one of the dependents of the deceased Govt servant. Such employment would be provided only if there is no other member of the family already in the employment of the State Govt or the Central Govt or Corporations, undertakings or such other bodies of the State Govt or the Central Govt. The intention is to ensure that the family gets the benefit of having atleast one salaried person. Subject to the availability of services of the appropriate category and having regard to the roster point, the educational qualification, age etc prescribed in the relevant Recruitment Rules, qualified candidates may be appointed by the concerned appointing authority provided that where the dependent does not have the requisite qualification prescribed in the relevant Rule, appointment may be made only after the required relaxation of the provisions of the R/Rs. duly approved by the appropriate authority.”

5. The aforesaid Memo was modified by another Memo issued on 13.8.1996 which contained detailed guidelines/instructions regarding assistance to the family members of the employees, who died-in-harness. This is also reproduced below:

“Memorandum

Subject: Assistance in the event of death of the State Govt employees while in service (die-in-harness cases).

In partial modification of previous instructions on the subject mentioned above, the Governor is pleased to order that the following procedure should Be observed in providing employment/assistance to an eligible member of the family of an employee, who dies while in service:

(1) (i) Employment may be provided to one member of the family provided there is no earning member in the. family, in an existing vacant post in the department without any relaxation of recruitment rules and reservation roster.

(ii) The eligibility shall b

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