Minor Below Minimum Age Prescribed For Applying At Time Of Employee's Death Can't Seek Compassionate Appointment: Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court has held that even though compassionate appointments are made to mitigate the hardship suffered by the family of the deceased employee, the Government could not be compelled to wait indefinitely until the child of the deceased, who was minor at the time of death, attains majority for submitting the application for employment. The bench of Justice Kuldeep Mathur dismissed the petition filed by a government employee's son against the rejection of his application for compassionate appointment since he was below the age of eligibility for application.The Court observed that, "the action of the respondent in rejecting the petitioner's application seeking compassionate appointment on the ground that, at the time of his father's death, he did not meet the minimum age criteria prescribed for submitting the application, and therefore his claim for appointment could not be kept alive until he attained majority, cannot be faulted...the Government/Jdvvnl cannot be compelled to wait indefinitely until a minor child attains majority for submitting application for employment."Petitioner's father was working as a helper to the Assistant Engineer, and passed away during Covid after which the petitioner applied for compassionate appointment. However, since he was only 15 years of age at the time of his father's death, the application was rejected.The State opined that compassionate appointment could be granted to the wards of a deceased employee only if, at the time of employee's death, the dependent was above 16 years of age which was the minimum age prescribed for submitting application seeking appointment. It was argued by the petitioner that the minimum age for submitting such an application pertained to eligibility at the time of application, and not at the time of death. Hence, the rejection was unsustainable in law. After hearing the contentions, the Court aligned with the argument presented by the State and while making the aforementioned observations held that the action of the State in rejecting the petitioner's application could not be faulted.It further noted that the eligibility or minimum age criteria had been prescribed only for the wards of the deceased Government employee and not the widow of the deceased employee. Hence, to mitigate the financial hardsip, the widow could herself apply for compassionate appointment.Accordingly, the petition was disposed of. Title: Vikram Nath v State of Rajasthan & Ors. Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Raj) 92Click Here To Read/Download Order

Minor Below Minimum Age Prescribed For Applying At Time Of Employee's Death Can't Seek Compassionate Appointment: Rajasthan High Court

Nupur Agrawal

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