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IN THE HIGH COURT OF ALLAHABAD
ALOK MATHUR, J.
Smt. Madhavi Mishra – Appellant
Versus
State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Co-Operative Deptt. Lko. And 4 Others – Respondents
Writ A No. 1811 of 2023
Decided on : 16-03-2023
Constitution of India,1950 - Articles 14 and 15 - Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Society Employees' Service Regulation 1975 - Regulation 104 (V) - Working on Class IV Post in District Cooperative Bank - Died during service - Application - Compassionate appointment - Petitioner that her father, who was working on Class IV Post in District Cooperative Bank, died during service on 7.1.2021 leaving behind the petitioner and his widow - It is stated that mother of petitioner is also a cancer patient and petitioner, who is a married lady is living with her mother and looking after after her. It is stated that due to sudden demise of father of petitioner family has fallen into financial destitution and, hence, according to Regulation 104 (V) of Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Society Employees' Service Regulation 1975 which provides for compassionate appointment, petitioner made an application for compassionate appointment - It has further been submitted that the petitioner had annexed all relevant documents for due consideration for such appointment - Case of petitioner was considered and forwarded to Bank Managing Committee and subsequently has been rejected by means of impugned order solely on ground that petitioner is a married daughter of deceased employee and is not included in definition of family as per note appended to Rule 104 of Regulations of 1975.
Finding of Court : Court in aforesaid Full Bench has not accepted stand of State which proceeds on a paternalistic notion of position of a woman in society and particularly of position of a daughter after marriage - Assumption that after marriage, a daughter cannot be said to be a member of family of her father or that she ceases to be dependent on her father irrespective of social circumstances cannot be countenanced - Test in matters of compassionate appointment is a test of dependency within defined relationships - There are situations where a son of the deceased government servant may not be in need of compassionate appointment because the economic and financial position of family of the deceased are not such as to require the grant of compassionate appointment on a preferential basis. But the dependency or a lack of dependency is a matter which is not determined a priori on the basis of whether or not the son is married. Similarly, whether or not a daughter of a deceased should be granted compassionate appointment has to be defined with reference to whether, on a consideration of all relevant facts and circumstances, she was dependent on the deceased government servant - Excluding daughters purely on the ground of marriage would constitute an impermissible discrimination and be violative of Articles 14 and 15 of Constitution - It is held that exclusion of married daughter from the ambit of family in the Note appended in sub clause (V) in Regulation 104 of the Regulations of 1975 is illegal, unconstitutional and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India. Accordingly, the word 'unmarried' in the said Note is struck down.
Result : writ petition stands allowed.
JUDGMENT :
1. Heard Sri O. P. Tiwari, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing counsel for respondent Nos.1 and Sri Rakesh Kumar Chaudhary for respondent Nos. 2 to 5.
2. The short counter affidavit filed on behalf of respondent No.2 and its rejoinder affidavit filed today in the Court are taken on record.
3. With the consent of the parties the petition is being decided at the admission stage itself.
4. By means of the present writ petition the petitioner has assailed the order dated 29.6.2021 as well as the order dated 1.7.2022 passed by opposite party No.2 i.e. Secretary, Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Institutional Services Board, Lucknow thereby rejecting the claim of the petitioner for appointment under Dying in Harness Rules.
5. It is submitted on behalf of the petitioner that her father Sri Sunil Kumar Mishra, who was working on Class IV Post in District Cooperative Bank, died during service on 7.1.2021 leaving behind the petitioner and his widow. It is stated that the mother of the petitioner is also a cancer patient and the petitioner, who is a married lady is living with her mother and looking after after her. It is stated that due to sudden demise of father of the petitioner the family has fallen into financial destitution and, hence, according to Regulation 104 (V) of Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Society Employees' Service Regulation 1975 (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations of 1975) which provides for compassionate appointment, the petitioner made an application on 1st March, 2021 for compassionate appointment. It has further been submitted that the petitioner had annexed all the relevant documents for due consideration for such appointment. The case of the petitioner was considered and forwarded to the Bank Managing Committee and subsequently has been rejected by means of the impugned order solely on the ground that the petitioner is a married daughter of the deceased employee and is not included in the definition of the family as per note appended to Rule 104 of the Regulations of 1975.
6. It is stated that the petitioner being aggrieved of the aforesaid order has approached this Court challenging the impugned order whereby her candidature has been rejected and has further assailed the validity of Rule 104 (v) of the the Regulations of 1975 in as much as married daughter would be included in the definition of daughter and such a discrimination on the face of it is illegal and arbitrary.
7. It has been submitted that according to the note appended to Regulation 104 of the Regulations of 1975 ‘the family, for the purposes of this Regulation, shall include wife/husband, sons and unmarried or widowed daughters of the deceased employee.’ It is stated that just because of the fact that unmarried and widow daughters only are included in the said definition and the petitioner being married daughter has been held to be excluded from the definiton of family.
8. Sri Rakesh Kumar Chaudhary appearing for the respondents i.e. Cooperative Institutional Services Board has supported the impugned order and submitted that there is no infirmity in the same in as much as the service Regulations of 1975 do not included a married daughter in the definition of the family and, hence, there is no infirmity in the impugned order by which the claim of the petitioner for compassionate appointment has been rejected. He has further submitted that in the counter affidavit filed by respondent No.2 it has been stated that U.P. Cooperative Institutional Services Board had already proposed an amendment to the definition of the family in the Regulation 1975 to the effect that married daughter be also included in the definition of the family. He has annexed a copy of the letter dated 22.9.2022 along with the proposed amendment. He has further submitted that had the amendment been allowed and incorporated in the Service Regulations then the claim of the petitioner could have been accepted but prior to its approval and incorporation in the said Regu
Point of Law : Exclusion of married daughter from ambit of family in the Note appended in sub clause (V) in Regulation 104 of the Regulations of 1975 is illegal, unconstitutional and violative of Art....
The exclusion of married daughters from the definition of 'dependent' in Rule 2(c) of the Rules of 1996 was discriminatory and violative of Articles 14 to 16 of the Constitution of India.
Married daughters are entitled to compassionate appointment on par with sons, as marital status does not negate their familial ties or dependency.
Point of law: undisputedly the petitioner is the elder daughter of the deceased and she along with her husband is staying at the place of the deceased even after her marriage. In the society, there a....
Marriage does not bring about a severance of relationship between a father and mother and their son or between parents and their daughter. Marriage cannot be regarded as a justifiable ground to defin....
Married daughters are entitled to compassionate appointment, and discrimination based on marital status violates Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution.
The main legal point established in the judgment is the unconstitutionality of excluding married daughters from the definition of 'family' of dependents for compassionate appointment, emphasizing the....
Exclusion of married daughters from compassionate appointment violates constitutional rights to equality and non-discrimination; eligibility should be based on dependency, not marital status.
The court established that divorced daughters are entitled to compassionate appointment, aligning with constitutional principles of equality and non-discrimination.
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