Compassionate Appointment Can't Be Granted To Posts Under Urban Local Bodies In Absence Of Specific Policy: Calcutta HC

A single judge bench of the Calcutta High Court comprising of Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, J. held that the compassionate appointments cannot be granted to posts under Urban Local Bodies in the absence of a specific policy governing such appointments. Background Facts The employee was working in Arambagh Municipality. He died on 4th November, 2014 while in service. His divorced daughter (petitioner) sought a compassionate appointment after her father's demise. She was the dependent of the deceased. Therefore she applied for employment under the compassionate appointments policy for Urban Local Bodies. The Director of Local Bodies heard her application on August 16, 2022 and rejected it. The decision of rejection was communicated to her on August 30, 2022. The application was rejected because there was no government policy allowing appointments for family members of employees of Urban Local Bodies under the Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioner approached the court. It was directed by the court to the respondents to re-examine her application. However, her application was rejected again. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioner filed the writ petition. It was contended by the petitioner that she was entitled to a compassionate appointment as a dependent of her deceased father. It was further argued that as per Notification No. 303-EMP/1M-10/2000, dated August 21, 2002, the family members of deceased employees of Urban Local Bodies were allowed to seek compassionate appointments. On the other hand it was contended by the respondent state that the petitioner was not entitled to a compassionate appointment due to the absence of a policy governing such appointments for employees of Urban Local Bodies. It was argued that Notification No. 303-EMP/1M-10/2000, dated August 21, 2002 was superseded by Notification No. 251-Emp, dated December 3, 2013. It was further submitted by the State that in case of State of West Bengal v. Debabrata Tiwari & Ors., the Supreme Court held that Circulars like 303-EMP did not apply to local authorities. It was further contended that the Finance Department had informed that the benefits of the order of Labour Department, vide No.251-Emp. dated 3rd December, 2013 will not be applicable to the municipal employees. Findings of the Court It was observed by the court that there was absence of a governing policy for Urban Local Bodies in State of West Bengal. The case of State of West Bengal v. Debabrata Tiwari & Ors. was relied upon by the court wherein the Supreme Court noted that Circulars No. 301-Emp, 302-Emp, and 303-Emp issued in 2002, apply only to State Government departments and not to local authorities as per Circular No. 142-Emp. (1st November 2007). The Supreme Court clarified that compassionate appointments in local authorities required a specific policy formulated by such authorities. Further the Circular No. 142-Emp, dated November 1, 2007 allowed the formulation of specific policy for compassionate appointments in local authorities. It was observed by the court that all prior notifications were superseded by the Notification No. 251-Emp. Therefore the 2002 Circular was no longer applicable now. It was held by the court that compassionate appointments could only be made in accordance with an existing policy. Therefore, the petitioner had no enforceable right to claim employment on compassionate grounds in the absence of such policy. It was further observed by the court that the Director of Local Bodies was correct in rejecting the petitioner's application based on the absence of a policy for compassionate appointments applicable to municipal employees. Therefore, the order of the Director of Local Bodies was upheld by the court. With the aforesaid observations, the writ petition was dismissed. Case Name : Chaitali Roy (Mandal) v. State of West Bengal & Ors. Case No. : WPA/20811/2022 Counsel for the Petitioner : Balailal Sahoo, Kazi Sajjad Alam, Mainul Thander Counsel for the Respondents : Biswabrata Basu MalliClick Here To Read/Download The Order

Compassionate Appointment Can't Be Granted To Posts Under Urban Local Bodies In Absence Of Specific Policy: Calcutta HC

Namdev Singh

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