‘Death a great leveller, process compassionate job claims proactively’

New Delhi: “The majesty of death is that it is a great leveller for it makes no distinction between the young and the old or the rich and the poor,” the Supreme Court has said as it exhorted government officials to act with a sense of “utmost proactiveness” while deciding claims for job on compassionate ground.

The top court said the object of a provision for grant of compassionate employment is to enable the family of the deceased employee to tide over the sudden crisis due to the death of the bread-earner which left the family in penury and without any means of livelihood.

A bench of Justices Krishna Murari and BV Nagarathna allowed the appeal of the West Bengal government against a verdict of the Calcutta High Court, which had ordered grant of compassionate appointment to family members of municipal corporation employees who died in harness.

The apex court said there was no existing policy to govern compassionate appointment under local authorities in the state.

It said even if it was assumed that there existed such a policy, it would be of no redeeming purpose to direct that the applications for appointment on compassionate grounds be considered and decided several years after they were filed.

The top court noted the applications for compassionate appointment were filed by the legal heirs of deceased employees in three municipal corporations-Burdwan, Ranaghat and Habra in 2005-2006 and nearly 17-18 years have passed since then.

The bench said, “The majesty of death is that it is a great leveller for it makes no distinction between the young and the old or the rich and the poor. Death being a consequence of birth at some point of time is inevitable for every being. Thus, while death is certain, its timing is uncertain.

“Further, a deceased employee does not always leave behind valuable assets; he may at times leave behind poverty to be faced by the immediate members of his family.”

It asked what should be done to ensure that the death of an individual does not mean economic death for his family.

“The State’s obligation in this regard, confined to its employees who die in harness, has given rise to schemes and rules providing for compassionate appointment of an eligible member of his family as an instance of providing immediate succour to such a family. Support for such a provision has been derived from the provisions of Part IV of the Constitution of India, that is Article 39 of the Directive Principles of State Policy,” bench said.