The Madhya Pradesh High Court has rejected a compassionate appointment claim brought more than two decades after the death of the employee concerned.
Justice Vivek Agarwal held on 7 October that compassionate employment exists to provide immediate support when a family loses its breadwinner. It is an exception to open public recruitment and cannot become a deferred entitlement after the family has survived for a substantial period.
The petitioner’s father died in October 1998, but she applied only in August 2019. The court said granting relief 28 years after the bereavement would conflict with Supreme Court authority treating delay as fundamentally inconsistent with the scheme’s purpose.
The petition was dismissed. However, because counsel disputed whether the employee’s widow was receiving family pension, the court allowed the petitioner to seek revival if no pension was in fact being paid.