UNION OF INDIA & ORS.versusAMRITA SINHA

602                           [2021]
                   SUPREME COURT     9 S.C.R. 602
                                  REPORTS                     [2021] 9 S.C.R.


A                           UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
                                          v.
                                    AMRITA SINHA
                        (Civil Appeal Nos 7640-7641 of 2021)
B                             DECEMBER 11, 2021
                 [DR. DHANANJAYA Y. CHANDRACHUD
                          AND A. S. BOPANNA, JJ.]
            Service Law – Compassionate Appointment – Held: In
      evaluating a claim for compassionate appointment, it is open to the
C     authorities to evaluate the financial position of the family upon the
      death while in service – If the scheme requires that the family pension
      must be taken into account in evaluating the merits of an application
      seeking compassionate appointment, it has to be followed.
             Service Law – Compassionate appointment – Nature of – Held:
D     It is not a matter of right, but is to enable the family to tide over an
      immediate crisis which may result from the death of the employee.
            CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos.7640-
      7641 of 2021.
             From the Judgment and Order dated 26.04.2018 of the High Court
E     of Judicature at Madras in W.P. No.15982 of 2017 and W.M.P. No.17280
      of 2017.
           Ms. Madhavi Divan, ASG, S. S. Rizvi, Ms. Vaishali Verma, Ms.
      Seema Bengani, Arvind Kumar Sharma, Advs. for the Appellants.
F              Rabin Majumder, Adv. for the Respondent.
               The following Order of the Court was passed:
                                      ORDER
               1. Delay condoned.
G              2. Leave granted.
             3. The Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Madras,
      by its judgment dated 26 April 2018, has affirmed the judgment and
      order of the Central Administrative Tribunal1, directing the appellants to
      1
H         “Tribunal”
                                         602
          UNION OF INDIA & ORS. v. AMRITA SINHA                            603


reconsider the claim of the respondent for appointment on compassionate    A
grounds for a post corresponding to her qualifications against vacancies
for 2014-15.
       4. The spouse of the respondent was holding the rank of Sargent
in the Indian Air Force. During the course of his employment, he died
due to cancer on 6 January 2008, leaving behind the respondent and two     B
minor children. An application was filed by the respondent seeking
compassionate appointment, but, it was rejected on 17 February 2011. A
subsequent application which was filed on 11 February 2014 was also
rejected on 16 June 2015 on the ground that the respondent had secured
merit points which did not enable her to obtain compassionate
appointment.                                                               C

       5. The Union of India in the Ministry of Personnel, Public
Grievances and Pensions (Department of Personnel and Training) issued
an OM2 on 9 October 1998 titled “Scheme of Compassionate Appointment
under the Central Government”. On 22 January 2010, the Government
of India in the Ministry of Defence3 issued an OM4 titled “Scheme of       D
Compassionate Appointment Relative Merit, Point and Revised Procedure
for Selection”. This was followed by another OM5 of the MoD dated 14
May 2010.
       6. Following the death of her husband, the respondent was in the
receipt of a family pension in the amount of Rs 8,265 per month. The       E
total terminal benefits which were paid to the respondent were in the
amount of Rs 22,91,568. The case of the respondent for compassionate
appointment was evaluated and merit points were assigned under various
heads in terms of the procedure which was prescribed by the MoD. The
respondent, however, submitted that the family pension at the above        F
rate was payable from 7 January 2008 to 6 January 2018, after which
the amount of pension would stand reduced to Rs 4,959 per month. On
this basis, the respondent submitted before the Tribunal that she should
have been awarded 16 merit points instead of 10 against the head of
family pension. The Tribunal observed that the denial of compassionate
appointment on the ground that the respondent was drawing a monthly        G
pension of Rs 8,265 on the date of consideration of the case was not
2
  OM No. 14014/6/94-Estt(D)
3
  “MoD”
4
  F.No.19(3/2009/D)(Lab)
5
  F.No.19(3/2009/D)(Lab)                                                   H
604             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [2021] 9 S.C.R.


A     justifiable as pension is paid for the service rendered by a deceased
      employee. Moreover, the Tribunal noted that the quantum of pension
      would stand reduced with effect from 7 January 2018 to Rs 4,959 per
      month and since the deceased employee had died due to a terminal
      illness, the family “might be in debt” and “might have sold the property
      for his treatment”, while, at the same time, observing that it was not
B
      going into those aspects. On this basis, the letter of rejection was quashed
      and the appellants were directed to reconsider the case. The High Court,
      while affirming the judgment of the Tribunal, has held that the authorities
      have erred in taking into account the family pension in the monthly income,
      since this was an ad hoc income earned by the respondent, instead of
C     considering the regular pension which would be earned with effect from
      7 January 2018.
            7. We have heard Ms Madhavi Divan, Additional Solicitor General
      appearing on behalf of the appellants and Mr Rabin Majumder, Counsel
      appearing on behalf of the respondent.
D            8. Ms Madhavi Divan submitted that the case of the respondent
      was considered strictly within the parameters of the OM and merit points
      were assigned. It has been urged that the authorities were justified in
      taking into account the family pension which was being earned as on the
      date of the consideration of the application and the fact that the
E     pensionary payments would be reduced after a lapse of ten years would
      not be a ground to reassign the merit points in accordance with the
      Scheme. That apart, it was urged that the claim of the respondent had
      already been rejected on 17 February 2011 and even after a fresh claim
      was made for compassionate appointment, it was evaluated in terms of
      the Policy and the respondent was found not to be entitled to appointment
F     on a compassionate basis.
             9. On the other hand, it has been submitted on behalf of the
      respondent that the case of the respondent was that the merit points
      which were assigned to her were incorrectly computed having due regard
      to the fact that the family pension of Rs 8,265 per month which became
G     payable from 7 January 2008 would be reassessed at Rs 4,959 per month
      with effect from 7 January 2018. Mr Rabin Majumder placed reliance
      on the judgment of the Tribunal and has urged that having due regard to
      the financial condition of the respondent, the Court may not interfere
      with the judgment of the Tribunal on humanitarian grounds.
H
           UNION OF INDIA & ORS. v. AMRITA SINHA                                 605


        10. While assessing the rival submissions, it becomes necessary,         A
at the outset, to consider the reasons which weighed with the Tribunal
since it is the view of the Tribunal which has been held not to suffer
from error by the High Court. Under the policy document, which
embodies the Scheme for considering cases for compassionate
appointment, points are awarded under diverse heads. The monthly
                                                                                 B
pension which was payable to the respondent was required to be taken
into account in the award of merit points. The Tribunal, however, came
to the conclusion that pension is paid for past service rendered by the
employee and, hence, denial of compassionate appointment on that basis
was not justifiable. This reasoning of the Tribunal is fallacious.
Undoubtedly, pension is not an act of bounty, but is towards the service         C
which has been rendered by an employee. However, in evaluating a
claim for compassionate appointment, it is open to the authorities to
evaluate the financial position of the family upon the death while in service.
Compassionate appointment is not a vested right. It is provided in order
to enable a family to tide over a financial crisis caused by the death of its
                                                                                 D
wage-earner while in service. If the scheme requires that the family
pension must be taken into account in evaluating the merits an application,
it has to be followed.
      11. In the present case, the family pension which was payable as
on the date of the consideration of the application has been taken into
account. The fact that the pension would be up for revision in terms of          E
the policy after a decade was not a reason to discard the pensionary
payment which was being made towards family pension on the date of
the consideration of the application for compassionate appointment.
        12. Compassionate appointment is not a matter of right, but is to
enable the family to tide over an immediate crisis which may result from         F
the death of the employee. If the policy of the government envisages
that the family pension would be paid for a ten years after which it
would have to be modified, it cannot be said that by taking into account
the present pensionary payment, the authorities have considered an
extraneous circumstance. The same criterion is applied even handedly             G
to all applicants seeking compassionate appointment.
      13. The High Court has affirmed the view of the Tribunal by
coming to the conclusion that the payment which was being made to the
respondent was ad hoc in nature and was wrongly considered by the
authorities while awarding merit points. This line of reasoning of the           H
606               SUPREME COURT REPORTS                         [2021] 9 S.C.R.


A     High Court is equally erroneous as that of the Tribunal. The payment of
      the family pension was not an ad hoc amount, but, was evidently in
      accordance with the applicable service rules. The application of the
      respondent was initially rejected in 2011 and was, thereafter, again
      reconsidered in 2014. Absent a case of palpable arbitrariness, we are of
      the view that there was no reason for the High Court or the Tribunal to
B
      interfere with the evaluation which was conducted by the authorities in
      terms of the applicable guidelines. Moreover, we are clearly of the view
      that the grant of compassionate appointment would not be in accordance
      with the basic purpose and object of such a scheme.
            14. For the above reasons, we allow the appeals and set aside the
C     impugned judgment and order of the High Court dated 26 April 2018.
      The OA6 filed by the respondent shall, in the circumstances, stand
      dismissed.
               15. Pending application, if any, stands disposed of.

D
      Bibhuti Bhushan Bose                                            Appeals allowed.




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H         OA No 310/01721/2015