om:145-cl-2023-Oct — No legal right is vested with anyone for compassionate appointment and due to limited number of vacancies, such appointments are granted purely on the basis of merit

No legal right is vested with anyone for compassionate appointment and due to limited number of vacancies, such appointments are granted purely on the basis of merit — The given chunk is part of the decision in a case filed by Smt. Rita Biswas, seeking compassionate appointment after her father's death as a Group 'D' employee. The chunk details the reply sent to th... — Facts: Rejection of application for compassionate appointment on the ground that the case is 11 years old is the challenge in this case. The father of the petitioner Shri Ranjit Biswas was a Group ‘D' employee who died in harness on 13-11-2009. After his death, the Superintendent of Post Office, Dharmanagar Division collected the relevant documents of the petitioner for providing job under compassionate grounds on 19-1-2011. Thereafter, on 8-11-2012, the petitioner sought information from Office of the Superintendent of Posts, Dharmanagar Division under RTI Act, 2005 as to whether her case was recommended or not for appointment for Group ‘D' / Postman under compassionate appointment scheme. In reply to the above, the Office of Superintendent of Posts, Dharmanagar Division vide Letter No. WLF/RTI/2012/DNR, dated 11-12-2012 furnished the following information:

"

(i) The case has been forwarded to Circle Office, Shillong on 19-1-2011.

(ii) Smt. Rita Biswas had been recommended for the post of Postman.

(iii) Group 'D' Postman / Stamp Vendor

(iv) No Postman / Group ‘D' has been recruited under compassionate appointment in respect of Dharmanagar Division from the period January, 2011 to till date."

Thereafter, on 21-7-2014, the petitioner submitted another prayer under RTI Act, 2005 for providing information in respect of her compassionate appointment. In reply to the above, the Office of Superintendent of Posts, Dharmanagar Division vide Letter No. WLF/Comp. Apptt./Misc/DNR-II(ii), dated 17-9-2015 informed the petitioner that the Circle Relaxation Committee (CRC) in the meeting held on 4-9-2015 had deferred the claim of the petitioner for compassionate appointment and the case would be carried forwarded for consideration along with 2015 cases. Thereafter, the petitioner sent a legal notice, dated 21-12-2018 and reminder, dated 24-4-2019 to the Chief Postmaster-General, North-East Circle, Shillong for settlement of her claim for compassionate appointment. In reply to the above said legal notice, the Assistant Postmaster General (Staff), Office of the Chief Postmaster-General, North-East Circle, Shillong vide Letter No. STAFF/175-5/2009 (D), dated 15-4-2019 sent a reply to the petitioner with the following observations:

"With reference to your legal notice on the subject cited above, it is to intimate that this Office held the Circle Relaxation Committee (CRC) meeting on 4-9-2015 to consider cases of compassionate appointment to the Applicants' (dependants) of the Gramin Dak Sevak (GDS) and departmental employees. Applicants/candidates for the year from 2011 to 2014 including the case of your client Smt. Rita Biswas, D/o. (L) Ranjit Biswas, Ex-Group ‘D' Dharmanagr HPO had been taken into consideration but all the cases could hardly be considered due to constraint of limited vacancy. A few candidates had been selected for appointment under compassionate ground as per availability of vacancy in Group ‘C' cadre (i.e. Postal Assistant, Postman and MTS) observing departmental guideline. Your client could not meet the merit point in comparison to other candidates who had been selected for appointment. Thereafter, the CRC again met on 14-12-2016 and 12-10-2017 and candidature of your client was taken into consideration but still her case failed to meet merit point in comparison to other candidates who had been selected for appointment. The petitioner has alleged that, her case of compassionate appointment has been rejected in an arbitrary and whimsical manner and hence this OA.