IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT JABALPUR BEFORE HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE VISHAL MISHRA ON THE 5^th OF MARCH, 2025 WRIT PETITION No. 29261 of 2023 PRACHI TIWARI Versus THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH AND OTHERS Appearance:

Shri Harish Chandra Singh - Advocate for the petitioner. Shri Mohan Sausarkar – GA for the respondents / State.

ORDER Assailing the order dated 6.10.2023 (Annexure-P/11) passed by the respondent no. 4, whereby the petitioner’s application for grant of compassionate appointment has been rejected, the present petition has been filed.

2. It is the case of the petitioner that on 23.9.1993 the father of the petitioner was appointed to the post of Government Teacher in the respondents department. The petitioner’s father was working on the post of Head Master. On 22.4.2016 he met with an accident working on the post of Head Master and succumbed to his injuries. At the relevant time, he was serving at Government High School, Chaura, District Rewa. At the time of death of her father, the petitioner was around 16 years of age and was pursuing her 9^th Standard. The petitioner has two elder brother and sister and the petitioner being youngest, she was minor at the time of death of her father and on attaining the age of majority, she filed an application for grant of compassionate appointment.

3. It is argued that in terms of Clause 3.2 of the Policy dated 29.9.2014 which is applicable to the case of the petitioner, an application for grant of compassionate appointment can be filed up to 7 years from the date of death of the government servant. The mother of the petitioner had filed an application before the respondent no. 4 for grant of compassionate appointment to the petitioner on 26.7.2019 but no action was taken by the authorities. On attaining the age of majority in the year 2019, she along with her mother again submitted a form for grant of compassionate appointment before the respondent no. 5 Principal, Government High School, Chaura, District Rewa accompanied with affidavits of her elder brother and sister pointing out the fact that they do not have any objection if the compassionate appointment is granted to the petitioner. However, for a considerable time no action was taken by the authorities on the said application. In between Covid-19 Pandemic spread out in the entire country, therefore, the authorities had given assurance to the petitioner that her application for grant of compassionate appointment will be considered as soon as the effect of Covid-19 Pandemic is over. Thereafter, when no action was taken by the authorities, the petitioner’s mother approached the authorities by filing an application to point out the outcome of pending application of the petitioner for grant of compassionate appointment but of no consequence. On 3.3.2023 another application was filed before the respondent no. 3 to look into the request made by the petitioner but of no result. Thereafter, a writ petition being W.P. No.7904/2023 was preferred before this Court which was disposed of vide order dated 11.4.2023 directing the respondents to consider and decide the pending application of the petitioner for grant of compassionate appointment. In compliance of the order passed by this Court, the application filed by the petitioner has been rejected on the ground that petitioner’s elder sister is working on the post of Clerk in the Bank of Maharashtra which is reflected from the affidavit submitted by the mother. It is argued that the petitioner’s elder sister is married and she is not residing with the petitioner, therefore, the authorities have wrongly considered the aspect of the matter and rejected the claim of the petitioner. The entire family is dependent upon the petitioner, therefore, the authorities should have considered the case of the petitioner for grant of compassionate appointment.

4. It is argued that the factum of dependency and penury are the prime factors to be considered by the authorities while considering the application