Married daughter entitled to get a job on compassionate grounds, Jharkhand High Court's big decision

Giving an important decision, a bench of Justice Dr. SN Pathak of the Jharkhand High Court has said that married girls are also entitled to get appointment on compassionate grounds. If a married woman is wholly dependent on the deceased, she should get a compassionate job. Not giving a job to a married person comes under the purview of gender discrimination. The court has directed the applicant to make appointment on compassionate grounds within eight weeks. The said matter is of Jharkhand Energy Development Corporation.

In this regard, Rita Giri had filed a petition in the High Court. It was said in the petition that the mother of the applicant was a permanent employee in Jharkhand Energy Development Corporation. He died on 23 June 2012. She was completely dependent on her mother. He applied for compassionate appointment on 22 October 2013. Scrutiny of the application revealed that the applicant is unmarried. There is no objection to his brothers being appointed on compassionate grounds. Four years later, the case of the applicant was placed before the Compassionate Committee. Meanwhile the applicant got married. After this, the Compassionate Committee refused to make appointment on compassionate grounds, stating the grounds of being married.

The counsel for the petitioner told the court that the division bench of the Jharkhand High Court, while hearing a petition in the past, has declared the married girl entitled to be appointed on compassionate grounds. Even after being informed about this, the Energy Development Corporation is refusing to give the job. She was unmarried at the time the applicant made the application. There is no fault of the applicant in this whereas it was told by the Energy Development Corporation that there is no provision to appoint a married girl on compassionate grounds, hence the application of the applicant has been rejected. After this, the court completed all the process and directed to make appointment on compassionate grounds in eight weeks.