The Madras High Court has quashed a government order fixing a cut-off date for married female legal heirs to seek appointment on compassionate grounds.
There could not be any cut-off date for women alone, when the government decided to consider both sexes equally, Justice S. Vaidyanathan said, holding the G.O. of 2012 illegal.
The case of P. Usha Rani of Ariyalur district was that her father, S. Paramasivam, working as a village assistant, died on April 21, 2008. She was married in 2001. She registered herself with the employment exchange in 2008. She petitioned the Collector for a job on compassionate grounds. The Collector rejected her request in July 2008 on the grounds that she was married and not entitled to employment on compassionate grounds.
She submitted that the right to employment in public office was a valuable right; but a G.O. of June 18, 2012 made it clear that female legal heirs married prior to November 29, 2011 were not eligible for appointment on compassionate grounds.
Tahsildar Jayankondam submitted that there was a delay in claiming the appointment. Since the petitioner got married prior to her father’s demise, she was not entitled to a job.
Mr. Justice Vaidyanathan said that when the G.O. decided to treat the son and daughter of a deceased employee on the same footing, fixing a cut-off date was not correct. He cited an earlier order in a similar case and said given that there could not be any discrimination, he held the G.O. illegal.
The judge directed the Ariyalur Collector to consider the petitioner’s case and provide her employment on compassionate grounds in the next vacancy arising in the Class III or IV, if she was eligible.
