RANJEET SINGH Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY means of the present writ petition, following relief has been claimed:

(2.) IN reply to the writ petition, the only stand taken by the respondents is that appointment on compassionate ground can only be made where the family of the deceased government servant is left in indigent circumstances, requiring immediate financial assistance. Also that if the appointment on compassionate ground is given without following any criteria, it may amount to render the government employment hereditary. According to the respondents, the case of the petitioner was examined and the same being not covered under the income/indigence criteria applicable to such like cases, stands rejected in consultation with the advisory department. Having gone through the record and the contentions raised on both sides, the stand taken by the respondents in reply to the writ petition that in the policy being followed by the respondent -State in the matter of making appointment on compassionate ground no criteria of income/indigence is prescribed, is not at all substantiated on record from any tangible material. Mere assertion to this effect in the reply cannot be believed as gospel truth to deny the claim as laid by the petitioner in this writ petition. If the respondents while considering the application of the petitioners have taken the income of the family from pension or other retiral benefits, they are not justified to reject the petitioner's calm on the basis thereof, because at this stage it is well settled at this stage that income of a family from retiral benefits including the family pension which would have otherwise been paid to the deceased employee on retirement or to his dependants in the event of his death cannot be taken into consideration while considering an application for appointment on compassionate ground. It has been held so by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Smt. Phoolwati versus Union of India and others, : AIR 1991 SC 469, which reads as follows:

(3.) A Coordinate Bench of this Court in Sanjay Kumar versus State Bank of India and others, 2007 (2) SLC 449, having similar facts and circumstances has also held as under: