Summary
The Court set aside a direction for compassionate appointment because the claimant first approached the Tribunal more than a decade after the employee’s death. Repeated orders to reconsider representations did not cure the delay or restore the immediate financial-crisis basis of such appointment.
Issues
- Whether repeated reconsideration orders could sustain a stale claim for compassionate appointment.
Held
- Compassionate appointment addresses an immediate financial crisis caused by death in service. It is not a vested entitlement exercisable at any future time, and the family’s financial circumstances must justify relief under the governing framework. (¶ 8)
- The initial delay of over a decade in approaching the Tribunal defeated the basis of this claim. Successive directions to consider and reconsider representations did not erase that delay. (¶¶ 3, 4, 5, 8, 9)
- Routine disposal by directing consideration of representations prolonged this dispute; calling for the response and deciding the controversy at the outset would have enabled finality. (¶ 8)
Result
Union appeal allowed; High Court’s appointment direction set aside and Tribunal’s dismissal of the original application affirmed. No costs.