The bench of Justices MR Shah and Krishna Murari held that a married daughter cannot be said to be dependent on her mother for the purposes of compassionate appointment. The bench also held that "appointment on compassionate ground, for all the government vacancies equal opportunity should be provided to all aspirants as mandated under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. However, an appointment on the compassionate ground offered to a dependent of a deceased employee is an exception to the said norms. The compassionate ground is a concession and not a right." 

The Division Bench of the Supreme Court held that "Thus, as per the law laid down by this Court in the aforesaid decisions, compassionate appointment is an exception to the general rule of appointment in the public services and is in favour of the dependents of a deceased dying in harness and leaving his family in penury and without any means of livelihood, and in such cases, out of pure humanitarian consideration taking into consideration the fact that unless some source of livelihood is provided, the family would not be able to make both ends meet, a provision is made in the rules to provide gainful employment to one of the dependants of the deceased who may be eligible for such employment. The whole object of granting compassionate employment is, thus, to enable the family to tide over the sudden crisis. The object is not to give such family a post much less a post held by the deceased."

While considering the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of N.C. Santhosh Vs. State of Karnataka, (2020) 7 SCC 617, the bench noted the summarised principle governing the grant of appointment on compassionate ground as under:-

(i)   that the compassionate appointment is an exception to the general          rule;
(ii)  that no aspirant has a right to compassionate appointment;
(iii) the appointment to any public post in the service of the State has to be made on the basis of the principle in accordance with Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India;
(iv) appointment on compassionate ground can be made only on fulfilling the norms laid down by the State’s policy and/satisfaction of the eligibility criteria as per the policy;
(v) the norms prevailing on the date of the consideration of the application should be the basis for consideration of claim for compassionate appointment. 

The Supreme Court finally held that "the respondent cannot be said to be dependent on the deceased employee, i.e., her mother. Even otherwise, she shall not be entitled to appointment on compassionate ground after a number of years from the death of the deceased employee."

Case Details:-

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 6938 OF 2022
The State of Maharashtra and Anr. …Appellant(s)
Versus
Ms. Madhuri Maruti Vidhate …Respondent(s)

Read the Complete Judgment on the link below:-

https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2020/4008/4008_2020_7_1501_38707_Judgement_30-Sep-2022.pdf