No compassionate appt decades after death: HC

Raipur: The Chhattisgarh high court has rejected a writ appeal filed by a 27-year-old woman who sought a compassionate appointment, saying such jobs are meant to provide "immediate financial assistance to families in sudden crisis" and cannot be claimed decades after death of the govt employee.

The division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Bibhu Datta Guru upheld an earlier Single Bench order of April 9, 2025, which had refused to consider her request.

The woman's mother, an assistant teacher, died in harness on Dec 9, 2000, leaving behind two minor daughters and a brother. The appellant woman, who was three years old at the time, attained majority in 2015 and applied for a compassionate appointment on Aug 5, 2015.

The school education department rejected her application in 2017, prompting her to move the high court.

Her counsel argued that the 1994 policy, which was in force at the time of the employee's death, permitted dependents to apply after attaining majority. She also submitted that the family faced hardship as the father allegedly abandoned the children soon after the mother's death.