Marital status can’t bar daughter from compassionate appointment: MP High Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has dismissed the rejection of a daughter's compassionate appointment claim, ruling that denying her the opportunity was unjustifiable simply because she was married at the time of her father's death. The court has sent the case back for fresh consideration within three months. The matter involved Shashi Prabha, the petitioner, who challenged the refusal of her application for a compassionate appointment following her father's death in 2007 while employed.

The court held that the condition of a "single" daughter, without justification, is arbitrary and discriminatory. Clause 2.2 of the Madhya Pradesh Compassionate Appointment Policy, which bars married daughters from consideration, cannot withstand judicial scrutiny. The policy permits a surviving spouse to nominate their son or unmarried daughter for the position if they are ineligible.

The woman's father was a government school headmaster until his death in November 2007. Although married during her father's lifetime, her husband left her afterward. She stayed with her father and became financially dependent on him for six to seven years before his death. Despite submitting a notarized divorce deed in 2012 and a formal mutual-consent divorce decree in 2013, the department rejected her compassionate appointment application in 2014 and again in August 2016.

The court found the policy's clause unconstitutional and violative of the Constitution of India, particularly Articles 14, 15, 16, and 39(a), which guarantee equality, non-discrimination, and public employment opportunities.