Compassionate appointment is a restricted concession to mitigate immediate financial hardship caused by a death in service; it does not confer a right to seek appointment to higher-level posts retroactively or indefinitely after the initial appointment has been accepted and acted upon.

(Order of the Court was made by S.M.Subramaniam J.)

The order of rejection, rejecting the claim of the petitioner to appoint him in the post of Junior Assistant on compassionate ground is under challenge in the present writ proceedings.

2. Petitioner was appointed on compassionate ground as Junior Bailiff on 18.11.2015 and working as such for past about 11 years. He submitted an application on 22.05.2025 after a lapse of about 10 years from the date of compassionate appointment claiming that he should have been appointed as Junior Assistant on compassionate appointment, since he possess the qualification during the relevant point of time.

3. The claim made out by the petitioner seeking higher post on compassionate ground is untenable. Scheme of compassionate appointment is a concession and not a constitutional scheme of appointment. Scheme is to be implemented strictly in accordance with the terms and conditions. The very purpose of the scheme of compassionate appointment is to mitigate the circumstances arising on account of the sudden death of the Government employee and not to provide one appointment to the family of the deceased employee. The penurious circumstances and other relevant factors are to be assessed for providing compassionate appointment.

4. In the present case, petitioner was appointed on compassionate ground as Junior Bailiff, and that being the factum, he cannot claim higher post at a later point of time, which is untenable.

5. Thus, the present writ petition is devoid of merits. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed. No costs. Consequently, the connected miscellaneous petitions, if any, are closed.