Job on compassionate grounds not a kin's right: Calcutta HC

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ruled that the policy of compassionate appointment is not a right of the kin (wife or child) but more of a benefit held out by the state to rescue the family.

Government offices might make sympathetic appointments considering the financial situation of the family of the deceased.

This was stated by the Calcutta High Court while hearing a case filed by one Bandana Ghosh in 2013 who had applied for a job in place of her deceased father Bhabani Shankar Basu, a Kolkata Police officer.

Her application was rejected as the Kolkata Police cited that she is not eligible for the job because she is married.

The court said there is a job arrangement in the Dying Heirness quota keeping in mind the immediate shortage of the family of the deceased. But it is never the right of the deceased's kin.

The West Bengal Scheme for Compassionate Appointment, 2013, shall be applicable to a married daughter who on date of death or incapacitation was unmarried.

In 2016, the Calcutta High Court division bench said in the verdict that married girls also deserve sympathetic appointment in case of father's death.

In 2019, Bandana again filed a case with the Calcutta High Court based on this verdict. The court on Thursday said it never stated in its ruling that a compassionate appointment is the right of the deceased.