Compassionate appointment must be within the four corners of the scheme itself and cannot be granted after a long lapse of time.

ORDER :

1. The appellants have challenged the order dated 14th August 2019 passed in WP (S) No. 1515 of 2013 by which their prayer for appointment of the appellant No. 2 on compassionate ground has been declined by the writ Court.

2. The appellant No. 1 is mother of the appellant No. 2 for whose appointment the appellant No. 1 submitted an application in the year 2002, after the death of her elder son in harness on 10th November 2001.

3. The writ Court has held that the scheme of National Coal Wages Agreement (in short ‘NCWA’) does not envisage appointment on compassionate ground to the members of the family, one after another. The writ Court has also observed that the order dated 16th February 2005 by which the application for compassionate appointment of the appellant No. 2 was rejected was not challenged in the writ proceeding.

4. The writ Court held as under:

“6. On the discussions made above, this Court finds that the compassionate appointment made for to meet the sudden jerk in the family, N.C.W.A. scheme does not provide that one after another family members will be accommodated in the C.C.L. Moreover, the rejection order dated 16.02.2005 is not challenged by the petitioners, accordingly the writ petition is dismissed.”

5. M/s Central Coalfields Limited (in short ‘CCL’) has taken a ground that the elder brother of the appellant No. 2 who died on 10th November 2001 was not a regular employee rather a Trainee Mining Sirdar, who had just completed 2nd phase of training.

6. Mrs. M.M. Pal, the learned senior counsel for the appellants, has submitted that the appellant No. 1 applied for appointment of her elder son, namely, Jaspal Singh under the Special Female VRS Scheme and while so the stand taken by the CCL that the application for compassionate appointment to the appellant No. 2 was a kind of hereditary employment, one after another, is unfounded. It is further submitted that in course of employment of elder brother of the appellant No. 2 his service book was opened which duly recorded all necessary information about him and, moreover, the appointment on compassionate ground cannot be ad hoc or temporary, rather it must always be permanent in nature.

7. Briefly stated, the appellant No. 1 was appointed on compassionate ground in the year 1992 and five years after that she took voluntary retirement under the Special Female VRS Scheme, exercising the option for appointment of a dependent in her place. Accordingly, Jaspal Singh who was her elder son was appointed on 18th January 1999 as a trainee Mining Sirdar on stipend of Rs. 2500/- per month. The said Jaspal Singh was placed for undergoing mines training at Ray u/g Mines of Bachra Project for a period of six months from 10th April 2001 to 9th October 2001. The appellants have pleaded that on account of his illness he remained absent from duty and died on 10th November 2001. However, the CCL has projected that Jaspal Singh was a habitual absentee who before could complete his training died in harness.

8. In the counter-affidavit dated 15th July 2022, the CCL has pleaded that Jaspal Singh attended the duty of twelve days each in May 2001 and June 2001 and, thereafter, remained absent from training without any intimation and permission to leave. Mr. D.K. Chakraverty, the learned counsel for the CCL, states that as per the records maintained by the CCL, Jaspal Singh attended duty just one day in April 2001 and he remained absent from 20th June 2001 till his death was reported by producing a death certificate issued by Brindavan Hospital and Research Centre, Ranchi Road, Hazaribagh.

9. The aforesaid facts clearly bring out that there were several applications for appointment on compassionate grounds from the family of the appellant No. 1, who herself was offered appointment on death of her husband. The scheme for compassionate appointment is formulated by the employer to provide sustenance to the family in distress and no dependent has a vested right to claim appointment on compassiona