Virendra Kumar Rathiya v. State of Chhattisgarh
Case brief
What is this about?
Chhattisgarh High Court, Bilaspur; WPS No. 2335 of 2021; decided 08.07.2026 by Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey; petitioner Virendra Kumar Rathiya versus State of Chhattisgarh and District Education Officer, Bilaspur. Subject: compassionate appointment, death in harness (father died 21.8.1993), delay and laches (application made in 2018, 25 years after death; majority attained 2011), rejection order dated 02.07.2018 for want of vacant Assistant Grade-III post, Policy dated 10.6.1994, Article 14 of the Constitution. Precedents relied on: Madhuri Maruti Vidhate, Sajad Ahmed Mir, T.T. Murali Babu, Rushibhai Jagdishbhai Pathak, Bichitrananda Behera. Outcome: writ petition dismissed; no relief granted.
What did the court decide?
The claim of the petitioner for compassionate appointment cannot be accepted: the object of such appointment is to provide immediate financial assistance to the family of a deceased government servant facing hardship on the untimely demise of the breadwinner, and since the family has already survived for a considerable period (more than 30 years), the very object stands defeated; the petitioner also approached the authorities seven years after attaining majority without explaining the cause of delay.