The Karnataka High Court has observed that in private aided institutions, a lack of vacancy in a specific institute should not be a ground to deny compassionate appointment. Instead, vacancies elsewhere in the district or state could be taken into account for the purpose of these appointments.
The July 31 order passed by a single-judge bench of Justice Suraj Govindaraj was recently made public.
The case in question involved Santosh Wadakar, whose father had passed away while in service as a first grade assistant in an aided institution in Karnataka’s Bagalkot district in 2009. Wadakar applied for compassionate appointment, but this was rejected by the deputy director of the pre-university education department, saying there was no vacancy in the institute where his father was employed.
Wadakar’s counsel argued that as per the Karnataka Pre-University Education Rules, 2010, vacancies had to be considered not only in the same institute but across the district and state as well.
The bench agreed, stating, “…the petitioner’s application has been rejected solely on the ground that no vacancy exists in the institution where his father was working. This rejection is in clear contravention of the mandate …..The respondents are duty-bound to act in strict conformity with the Rules while considering the petitioner’s legitimate claim for compassionate appointment.”
The court then directed that efforts be made to fill vacancies at the district, or failing that, at the state level for this compassionate appointment within eight weeks of the order being received.
Meanwhile, in a related issue, the Karnataka High Court had released guidelines for compassionate appointments, including steps to assist applicants such as widows and illiterate persons with the technicalities of the application process.