Provide compassionate employment out of turn: High Court

The Madras High Court Bench here has directed Home Secretary, Director General of Police and Madurai Commissioner of Police to consider on priority basis the plea of an individual for employment on compassionate grounds and provide him a job out of turn though he was listed in the 1,667th place in State-wide seniority list maintained for compassionate appointment.

Justice S. Vimala passed the order on a writ petition filed by K. Arun Prasad whose mother R. Jaya had died on September 14, 2008 while serving as a Sub-Inspector of Police in Madurai city limits. Claiming that his father had predeceased his mother and that his sister and grandmother were now dependent on him, the petitioner had urged the court to consider his request for compassionate employment on priority basis.

The petitioner stated that his sister had given a letter of consent for him to seek public employment and the Inspector of District Special Branch police had also recommended his case to the Superintendent of Police on August 1, 2011. Subsequently, he received a communication from the office of the Commissioner of Police stating that his name had been included in the State-wide seniority list for compassionate employment.

Pointing out that the objective of compassionate employment was to provide immediate assistance to the family of a government servant who died in harness, the petitioner’s counsel contended that maintaining a State-wide seniority list even for such employment ran counter to the very purpose of the scheme. Since the petitioner had lost both his parents, the lawyer insisted that his case should be considered out of turn.



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