The main legal point established is that the eligibility for compassionate appointment should not be restricted by the marital status of the applicant at the time of actual employment or in the future.

(Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for the issuance of writ of certiorarified mandamus to call for the records of the 2nd respondent in connection with his proceedings Na.Ka.No.4798/A1/98 dated 15.03.1999 and Na.Ka.No.4798/A1/98 dated 25.6.2004 and the fourth respondent in connection with order dated 15.3.2004 in T.A.No.240 of 1999, quash the same and consequently direct the respondent to reinstate the petitioner and permit to continue to work with all consequential service and monetary benefits.)

P.K. Misra, J.

Heard the learned counsels appearing for the parties.

2. The present writ petition has been filed to quash the order passed in T.A.No.240 of 1999 dated 15.3.2004 and to reinstate the petitioner in service with all consequential service and monetary benefits.

3. The present petitioner’s father, namely, Thiru. Ulaganathan, died on 31.7.1990 in harness, while he was serving as a Teacher. Subsequently, the present petitioner, who is the daughter of the deceased, filed an application on 31.6.1994 for appointment on compassionate ground. Admittedly, at that stage, she was unmarried and her three sisters and brother were minors and due to certain reasons, her mother, the widow of the deceased, was not in a position to seek appointment. In view of the indigent circumstances of the family members, the application was considered favourably and the petitioner was appointed on 15.9.1998. However, in the meantime, the petitioner had got married on 16.5.1995. It is specifically averred in the affidavit that the petitioner married her maternal uncle with the understanding that such person would have no objection to the petitioner maintaining the family members of her deceased father from out of the salary of such employment. After about six months of such employment, without holding any enquiry, service of the petitioner was terminated on 15.3.1999. Against such order of termination, the petitioner filed W.P.No.8429 of 1999, wherein a stay order had been passed on 5.5.1999. Pursuant to such stay order, the petitioner was reinstated in service on 1.10.2001. Subsequently, the writ petition itself was transferred to the Tamil Nadu Administrative Tribunal and numbered as T.A.No.240 of 1999, which was dismissed on merit on 15.3.2004. Based on the dismissal order, the petitioner was ousted from service on 25.6.2004 and the present writ petition is directed against the order of the Tribunal dated 15.3.2004. Even though an order of stay had been passed on 5.7.2004 and subsequently made absolute on 7.1.2005, by the order passed in Review Appln.No.18 of 2005, filed by the present Respondents 1 to 3, the stay order had been recalled. Undisputedly, after 25.6.2004, the petitioner was not in service.

4. In the background of the aforesaid facts and developments, learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the order of termination, which has been passed without holding any enquiry, is not sustainable in law. Learned counsel has further submitted that at the time when the petitioner filed the application for appointment on compassionate ground, admittedly she was unmarried, and, therefore, merely because she had got married by the time her application was considered and allowed and she joined service, it cannot be said that there has been suppression of any material fact warranting removal from service.

5. Learned Government Pleader appearing for the State has submitted that as per the relevant G.O., only an unmarried daughter is eligible to apply for appointment on compassionate ground and the married daughter is not entitled to get any employment on the basis of compassionate ground and, therefore, the petitioner, who was married at the time of actual employment, was not eligible.

6. As a matter of fact, the Tribunal has dismissed the Original Application filed by the petitioner on the above reasoning.

7. After having heard the learned counsels appearing for both sides and after going through the material