Dependent ‘married daughter’ entitled to compassionate employment: Court
Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesofindia.com 03.06.2026
New Delhi : Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a dependent married daughter could not be excluded from the definition of ‘family’ and would be entitled to seek employment or allotment of a ration shop if any of her parents died in harness.
A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe faulted a provision of a UP govt order relating to allotment of PDS shop on dependent quota for excluding married daughters from the definition of ‘family’ and said it breached the doctrine of equality embedded in the constitutional framework. “Exclusion of a married daughter from the definition of ‘family’ cannot be sustained,” it said.
Writing the judgment, Justice Aradhe said marital status bore no rational nexus to the status of dependency and the object of compassionate appointment or allotment of ration shops, which is to enable the family to overcome financial hardship caused due to death of the bread earner.
The bench said marriage neither extinguished the bond between a daughter and her parental family nor furnished avalid basis to presume absence of dependency. The UP govt order included “unmarried, legally separated and widowed daughters” as dependents. The SC said it would mean to include depe ndent married daughters. “Contemporary social realities demonstrate that many married daughters continue to reside with, support or remain dependent upon their parents,” it said and asked why a married daughter was excluded from the definition of ‘family’ when married sons were not.
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