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2026 Supreme(Online)(Chh) 23435
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR
Sachin Singh Rajput, J
Sandhya Sidar – Appellant
Versus
State Of Chhattisgarh – Respondent
WPS No. 2660 of 2015|WPS No. 131 of 2017
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Dhani Ram Patel, Ajeet Kumar Yadav
For the Respondents: Anand Gupta, U.N.S. Deo, Shivam Mishra
Compassionate appointment is a welfare measure to mitigate financial crisis for dependents of deceased employees; it should be granted based on the employee's status at death and the candidate's eligibility for any suitable post, avoiding hyper-technical restrictions.
Headnote:(A) Compassionate Appointment - Eligibility - Change in designation - If the nomenclature of a post is changed by government order prior to the employee's death, the claim for compassionate appointment must be considered based on the status existing on the date of death. (Para 9)
(B) Compassionate Appointment - Scope and Object - Humanitarian approach - The primary object is to provide immediate financial assistance to a family in penury; relief should not be denied on hyper-technical grounds or by insisting on qualifications for a higher post when the candidate is willing to accept a lower post (Class IV). (Para 12, 14)
Issues: Whether the petitioners are entitled to compassionate appointment despite the respondents' claims regarding lack of specific post provisions or educational qualifications.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. facts regarding compassionate appointment claims. (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 10 , 11) |
| 2. arguments on welfare nature of appointment. (Para 5 , 6 , 7) |
| 3. court's analysis of eligibility and status. (Para 9 , 13 , 14) |
| 4. legal principle of humanitarian assistance. (Para 12) |
| 5. final ruling allowing the petitions. (Para 15 , 16) |
C A V Order
Petitioners seeking compassionate appointment in the aforesaid petitions happen to be the widows whose husbands died in harness. Since the issue involved therein is one and the same, both the writ petitions are being disposed of by this common order.
2. Facts of WPS No. 2660 of 2015:
In this petition the petitioner is challenging the impugned communication/order dated 18.07.2014 whereby her claim for compassionate appointment has been negated on the ground that no instructions for such appointment on the post of peon have been received.
3. The husband of the petitioner namely Late Shri Radhe Lal Sidar was working as Shiksha Karmi Grade-II/Teacher Panchayat under the respondent authorities and died in harness on 22.06.2013 leaving behind the petitioner and other family members with no source of livelihood. Thereafter, the petitioner submitted an application on 25.03.2014 seeking compassionate appointment under the applicable policy annexing all supporting documents. However, vide impugned communication dated 18.07.2014 (Annexure P/1) the claim of the petitioner as stated above came to be declined. It is stated that though deceased employee was working as Shiksha Karmi Grade-II, his nomenclature later stood changed to "Teacher Panchayat" by virtue of Government Order dated 03.11.2011, and therefore the respondents have proceeded on a wholly erroneous factual premise holding the petitioner to be disentitled for compassionate appointment. The Government Order dated 03.11.2011 is already said to be brought on record as Annexure D/3, which clearly establishes that after issuance of the said order, the deceased employee held the post of "Teacher Panchayat". Since the deceased employee died on 22.06.2013, i.e., subsequent to the Government Order dated 03.11.2011, there was no occasion for the respondents to treat him as Shiksha Karmi Grade-II and therefore the communication impugned is liable to be set aside. According to the case of the petitioner, respondent No.5 in the document annexed to the return as Annexure R-5/2 itself has mentioned the deceased employee to have held the post of Teacher Panchayat, and therefore, failure of the respondents to consider this vital aspect amounts to gross illegality, arbitrariness and non- application of mind. During pendency of the writ petition, the petitioner filed an application dated 16.12.2024 for taking the Government Circular dated 05.11.2024 issued by the Panchayat and Rural Development Department, Government of Chhattisgarh, on record which states about the entitlement for compassionate appointment of the dependents of Panchayat teacher who died in harness.
4. Facts of WPS No. 131/2017:
In this petition, the husband of the petitioner namely Late Shri Teshwar Singh Sidar who was a Teacher (Panchayat) died in harness on 06.07.2013 leaving behind his wife (the petitioner) and two minor children namely Ku. Archana Singh and Ritesh Singh. After death of deceased employee, an application was filed by the petitioner before respondent No. 5 for grant of compassionate appointment. Since the petitioner was educated upto 11th class, on 06.01.2014 she was asked by respondent No.3 to acquire eligibility (Higher Secondary Examination) and to submit certificate within three years. In order to fulfill the eligibility criteria, the petitioner participated in Higher Secondary Examination and passed the same. Subsequently, on 18.09.2014, a letter was sent by respondent No.3 to the petitioner asking her to acquire educational eligibility (qualification of B.Ed/D.Ed. and Teacher Eligibility Test) within three years from the date
