Allahabad High Court: In a writ petition, a widowed daughter (‘petitioner’) seeking compassionate appointment challenged the judgment & order passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal (‘the Tribunal’), dismissing her application for compassionate appointment based on being a widowed daughter, she also challenged the direction/instructions issued by the Assistant General Manager (Recruitment), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (‘BSNL’) which states that widow daughter of the deceased employee cannot claim compassionate appointment. The division bench of Ranjan Roy and Om Prakash Shukla*, JJ., held that a widowed daughter falls under the ambit of ‘daughter’ if she was dependent upon her deceased father or mother on the date of his/her death. The Court directed BSNL to consider the petitioner’s claim for compassionate appointment per the weightage point system.
Background
The petitioner is a widowed daughter, whose father (‘the deceased’) died in harness on 12-11-2011, while working in the office of the General Manager (Telecom), leaving behind a wife, four daughters including the petitioner, and a son. Subsequently, the petitioner moved an application seeking an appointment on compassionate grounds. Along with the application, she had also submitted notary affidavits of her mother, brother, and married sisters stating that if she is given an appointment, they will have no objection rather they have given their consent. According to the petitioner, she also gave a notary affidavit to the effect that since the death of her husband in 2009, she was living with her father along with her minor son.
Thereafter, the Assistant General Manager (HR), Office of General Manager (Telecom) intimated the petitioner that as the ‘widowed daughter’ is not listed in the eligibility criteria of the guidelines circulated by its Circle Office, no action on her application for compassionate appointment could be taken. The petitioner filed an application against such refusal before the Tribunal.
After perusing U.P. Power Corporation Ltd. v. Urmila Devi, , the Tribunal held that as per the guidelines, ‘widowed daughter’ is not enumerated in the list of eligible persons and the Tribunal cannot enter into the shoes of the Executive in framing of rules and guidelines. Holding this, the Tribunal rejected the application and hence, this writ petition.
Issue
Whether a “widow daughter” falls under the definition of ‘Dependent Family Members’ or not as per the Scheme of the Compassionate Appointment (‘the Scheme’)?
Analysis
The Court referred to the Guidelines for Compassionate Appointment, issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Personnel Public Grievance and Pension dated 09-10-1998, which mentions “daughter (including adopted daughter)” in the list of Dependant Family Members. The Court noted that the prerequisites for being entitled to consideration for such an appointment are that the applicant should be a family member and should be dependent upon the deceased employee. After these conditions are satisfied the economic or financial condition of the family, including the dependent, assumes significance, and is required to be assessed.
The Court stated that even after her marriage, the petitioner continued to be the daughter of the deceased. The Court also referred to various judgments of different High Courts and noted that the common string running through these judgments is that they have given purposive and expansive interpretation to the meaning of the term ‘family member’. The High Courts have included even married daughters within the meaning of family of dependent.
The Court noted that the word ‘daughter’ used in the Scheme did not have the prefix ‘unmarried’ just as the word ‘son’ does not have such a prefix. The absence of such a prefix gives a reasonable basis to conclude that this definition does not exclude a ‘married daughter’, especially as the definition is an inclusive one, therefore, it has to be given an expansive meaning keeping in mind the object sought to be achieved. The Court also noted that the word ‘unmarried daughter’ has been used in the proforma documents annexed with the Office Memo (‘OM’) dated 27-06-2007 by which the weightage point system was introduced, however, the Court held that this OM cannot supplant the substantive provision contained in the Scheme as the weightage point system merely provides a procedure. Even otherwise, the word ‘unmarried daughter’ would not be sustainable given the decisions referred to by this Court.
The Court stated that moreover, if a married son is eligible for compassionate appointment if he was dependent upon his father at the time of his death, then, there is no reason as to why a married daughter who is similarly placed should not be eligible. The Court held that any distinction in this regard would be without any reasonable basis and without any link to the object sought to be achieved, therefore, it would be discriminatory and hit by Article of the . Thus, the Court held that any action/clauses of the policy which deprives a widowed daughter of a right of consideration for a compassionate appointment if she was dependent upon her father, the deceased employee, would violate Article , , read with of the .
In light of this, the Court held that the word ‘daughter (including adopted daughter)’ includes a married daughter, the only caveat is that such a married daughter should be dependent upon her father/mother on the date of his/her death.
Regarding the inclusion of a ‘widowed daughter’ in the said definition, the Court opined that a ‘widowed daughter’ stands on a better footing than a married daughter as, prima facie with the loss of her husband she also loses her source of livelihood, unless she is employed or has other adequate means of sustenance, it would be reasonable to draw an inference that she was dependent upon her father. Even after marriage like after her widowhood, she continues to be his daughter, and this status continues even at the time of death of her father. The Court noted that since the petitioner’s widowhood occurred before the death of her father, she was his daughter, for all legal and practical purposes, on the date of his death.
Consequently, the Court held that a ‘widowed daughter’ would be covered in the definition of ‘daughter’ if she was dependent upon her deceased father or mother on the date of his/her death.
For all the above-said reasons, the Court held that BSNL could not have declined to consider the petitioner’s application merely because she was a widowed daughter on the date of death of her father. The Court also quashed the impugned order and judgment of the Tribunal and allowed the petitioner’s original application.
Lastly, the Court directed the competent authority to consider the petitioner’s claim for compassionate appointment per the weightage point system and the observations made hereinabove.
[Punita Bhatt v. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Writ-A No. 7862 of 2023, decided on: 22-11-2024]
*Authored by: Justice Om Prakash Shukla
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the petitioner: Pankaj Kumar Tripathi, Bhavini Upadhyay, Sandhya Dubey
For the respondent: Pratul Kumar Srivastava, Gyanendra Singh Sikarwar
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