By way of the instant writ petition, the petitioner has approached this Court seeking following relief:-

(i) That the appointment letter No. F.(1)(159)/Communication/Ind/PAD/Comp/Ind of the respondent No. 5 (Annexure-P14) may be quashed and set aside.

(ii) That the respondents/department may be directed to give appointment to the petitioner on the post of driver on compassionate grounds under Rules of 1996.

(iii) Any other appropriate order or direction, which may be deemed just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case, may kindly be passed in favour of the petitioner.

Facts in brief are that Shri Shyam Lal Soni, the father of the present petitioner and the respondent No. 5 Shri Praveen Soni was employed as an Office Assistant in the District Industry Centre, Bhilwara. Shri Shyam Lal Soni passed away on 25.1.2009 while he was in service of the respondent department. The petitioner's mother had passed away before Shri Shyam Lal Soni. The petitioner is the younger son of Shri Shyam Lal Soni and has two sisters and one elder brother, respondent No. 5 Shri Praveen Soni. At the time of the death of Shri Shyam Lal Soni, the petitioner's elder sister was already married and was residing with her husband at Beawar. Petitioner's unmarried sister Ms. Seema started residing with the present petitioner after the death of Shri Shyam Lal. Admittedly, Shri Praveen Soni, acquired graduation degree in Engineering and was working in different private companies at various places viz. Indore, Gurgaon, Jhansi, Bhopal etc. uptil the death of Shri Shyam Lal. Lastly, Shri Praveen was working as a Production Manager in a private concern at Indore.

After the death of Shri Shyam Lal Soni, the petitioner filed an application under Rule 10 of the Rajasthan Compassionate Appointment of Dependent of Deceased Government Servants Rules, 1996 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules of 1996) on 26.2.2009 and claimed compassionate appointment in place of his father with a specific plea that he was wholly dependent on his father and had no independent source of income. It was mentioned in the application that the petitioner's unmarried sister Ms. Seema, who was also fully dependent on Shri Shyam Lal Soni had consented for giving compassionate appointment to the petitioner in place of their father. The application also narrated that Shri Praveen Soni, the petitioner’s elder brother being an engineer, was married and was living separately from their father for the last 5 years and was working at Madhya Pradesh and that he was not dependent upon Shri Shyam Lal Soni at the time of his death. The petitioner prayed for being granted appointment on the post of driver because he was possessed of the requisite qualification for appointment on the said post and was also holding a valid driving licence. On 26.2.2009, the respondent No. 5 Shri Praveen Soni also moved an application (Annexure-2) claiming appointment for himself on compassionate basis in place of his late father on the post of Inspector (Weights and Measures). The language of the application (Annexure-2) has a material bearing for resolving the controversy at hand and is reproduced herein-below for the sake of convenience:-

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