Compassionate appointment qualifications must align with established educational standards recognized by the relevant authority.

Sanjay K. Agrawal, J

1.

The petitioners herein/Union of India has invoked the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India questioning the legality, correctness and validity of the impugned order dated 11.09.2023 by which respondent’s application for grant of compassionate appointment has been allowed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Jabalpur Bench, Circuit Sittings – Bilaspur, C.G and further the Tribunal has directed the petitioners herein to reconsider the case of respondent herein for grant of compassionate appointment on the basis of marksheets in the next CRC meetings.

2.

The aforesaid challenged has been made on the following factual backdrop:-

(i) The respondent’s father was appointed on the post of Gramin Dak Sevak (for brevity “GDS”) on 29.01.1980 and he died in harness on 04.01.2016, leading to filing of application for grant of compassionate appointment on behalf of respondent herein which was rejected by the Competent Authority holding that the respondent does not have the ‘Secondary School Examination pass Certificate’ of 10^th standard conducted by any recognized Board of School/Educational Institution which is the mandatory qualification for the post of GDS leading to filing of Original Application before the Central Administrative Tribunal (for short ‘CAT’).

(ii) The CAT by its order dated 11.09.2023 allowed the application of the respondent herein holding that respondent has the Secondary School Examination pass Certificate’ of 10^th standard conducted by Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, therefore, the respondent herein is eligible for grant of compassionate appointment. Questioning the order of CAT the instant writ petition has been filed.

3.

Mr. Ramakant Mishra, learned DSG, would submit that the CAT is absolutely unjustified in granting the application by recording the finding which is perverse to the record as the respondent’s Class 10^th certificate was not issued by the recognized Board, therefore, the instant appeal deserves to be allowed while dismissing the impugned order passed by the CAT.

4.

Mr. J. K. Saxena, learned counsel for the respondent, would support the impugned order and oppose the prayer made by learned DSG.

5.

We have heard learned counsel for the parties, considered their rival submissions made herein-above and gone through the records meticulously.

6.

Admittedly, respondent’s father was appointed on the post of GDS on 29.01.1980 and died in harness on 04.01.2016. At that time, as per the prevalent revised policy, the educational qualification for engagement of GDS on compassionate ground as per Circular dated 14.01.2015, was that the candidate must have ‘Secondary School Examination pass certificate’ of 10^th standard conducted by any recognized board or school education in India and that is the mandatory educational qualification for the post of GDS which is referred in Rule 3(d) of the GDS (Conduct and Engagement) Rules, 2011. In the instant case, the respondent has passed 10^th standard examination/ Poorva Madhyama examination from Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur on 14.11.2002 and as per notification dated 09.07.2007 vide Ex.A/7, the State of Chhattisgarh has granted recognition to Poorva Madhyama (Two years Syllabus) of Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur equivalent to High School Examination Chhattisgarh, conducted by Chhattisgarh Madhyamik Siksha Mandal, Raipur, Class - 10^th, as such, it is deemed to be an examination conducted by the Madhyamik Siksha Mandal and even otherwise, the validity of the Annexure A/7 has not been questioned by the petitioners herein, therefore, the certificate of Class 10^th examinati