CHENNAI: An application for appointment on compassionate ground cannot be maintained if it is made after the maximum period stipulated under the scheme for the department concerned, the Madras High Court has ruled.

Dismissing a batch of writ appeals from legal heirs of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board employees who died in harness, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice K. Chandru referred to Supreme Court verdicts and said there could not be reservation of a vacancy till the heir became eligible for appointment. "The very basis of compassionate appointment is to see that the family gets immediate relief," the Bench said.

"The purpose of providing employment to a government servant dying in harness in preference to anybody else is to mitigate the hardship caused to the family on account of the employee's unexpected death while in service.

To alleviate the distress of the family, such appointments are permissible on compassionate grounds, provided there are rules providing for such appointment."

Making it clear that courts could not direct appointments on compassionate grounds de hors the provisions of the scheme in force governed by rules/regulations/instructions, the Judges said: "If, in a given case, a department of the government declines, as a matter of policy, not to deviate from the mandate of the provisions underlying the Scheme and refuses to relax the stipulation in respect of the ceiling, courts cannot compel the authorities to exercise its jurisdiction in a particular way, and that too by relaxing the essential conditions ..."

Reiterating that compassionate appointments were "exceptional," the Judges upheld the rejection of claims from three legal heirs of TNEB employees who died in harness. The applicants had approached the TNEB for jobs under compassionate category much after the three-year limitation period stipulated by the Board.

The Judges pointed out that the earlier provision, that if the applicant was a minor he must make fresh application after attaining majority, was deleted by a circular dated April 6, 2002.

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