Summary
The Court set aside the direction to consider a divorced daughter for compassionate appointment following her mother’s death. The applicable Karnataka rules included unmarried and widowed daughters, subject to dependency and residence requirements, but did not then include divorced daughters. The High Court could not enlarge those categories by interpretation; the 2021 amendment did not establish this claim. Independently, the daughter’s marriage subsisted when her mother died and the subsequent divorce did not establish eligibility at that date. The State’s appeal was allowed without costs.
Issues
- Whether the applicable compassionate-appointment rules could be interpreted to include a divorced daughter despite omission of that category.
- Whether the claimant’s marital status at the employee’s death and later divorce supported eligibility.
Provisions considered
- Rules 2 and 3(2)(ii), as applicable to the claim, Karnataka Civil Services (Appointment on Compassionate Grounds) Rules, 1996The specified dependent and eligible daughter categories could not be judicially expanded to divorced daughters; the claimant was also married when the employee died. (¶¶ 7, 8, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3)
Held
- Compassionate appointment is an exception to ordinary public recruitment and is not an aspirant’s vested right. Eligibility must satisfy the governing scheme; the Court reiterated that the norms prevailing on consideration govern the claim. (¶ 7)
- The applicable rules included unmarried and widowed daughters who were dependent on and living with the deceased female employee. Divorced daughters were added subsequently in 2021 and were outside the relevant provisions governing this application. Treating them as equivalent to the specified categories went beyond the rules. (¶¶ 8, 8.1)
- The claimant’s marriage subsisted at her mother’s death, and divorce by mutual consent followed later, immediately before the appointment application. The Court treated that sequence as suggesting an appointment-driven divorce and as an additional reason to reject the claim. Independently, even assuming equivalence with unmarried or widowed daughters, she lacked the claimed divorced status at the employee’s death. (¶¶ 8.2, 8.3)
- The High Court’s judgment directing consideration was quashed and its writ petition dismissed. The appeal was allowed with no order as to costs. (¶ 9)
Result
Appeal allowed; High Court judgment set aside and writ petition dismissed. No order as to costs.