'Married daughters eligible for govt job after father's death'

Kolkata: In a landmark judgement, the Calcutta high court on Wednesday ruled that a married daughter can also claim government employment in case of her father dies while in service.

Earlier, if a father died while in service, the married girls did not get a job. The judgement comes after a woman from Birbhum, Purnima Das moved the Calcutta high court and filed a case following the death of her father.

Notifications issued by the state Labour and Panchayat department said that only the unmarried daughters will be able to apply for the job in case of death of their father. The word 'married' cannot be written in the job application.

The Calcutta high court has also directed the state Labour and Panchayat departments to change the notifications saying that discriminations cannot be done on the ground

of marriage.

A married daughter has every right to claim a government job if her father dies in harness, the court has observed.

Until now, the benefit of applying for the job in case of death of a father was limited to the son, both married and bachelor and unmarried daughter.

A three-judge division Bench comprising officiating Chief Justice Nishita Nirmal Mhatre, Justice Dipankar Dutta, and Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty on Wednesday ruled that similar to the sons, daughters will also be eligible for employment in case of father's death during service irrespective of their marital status.

The court observed that the state government cannot make discrimination between sons and daughters on the ground of marriage.

Haruchandra Das, father of the petitioner Purnima Das who was an employee of Boragram panchayat in Birbhum died in 2011.

He had left his wife and three daughters with Purnima being the youngest daughter. His wife and elder sisters consented that the job should be given to the youngest daughter.

Purnima applied for the job in the Panchayat department but the department told her that she would not be provided with her father's job as she was married.

She later moved the Calcutta high court in 2013.

He application for the job was denied because state government rules do not permit married daughter to claim their father's employment.

The state government had cited Gazette notifications issued by the Panchayat and Labour department in 2008 where it was mentioned that only the unmarried daughters can apply for her father's service in case of death.

Anjan Bhattacharya, Purnima's counsel said that as per Article 14,15 and 16 of the Indian Constitution, there is no discrimination between son and daughter, so why can't a married daughter get the job when a married son is eligible to get it.