Upper age limit can be relaxed for compassionate appointments

The Chandigarh Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal has quashed an order of the Director, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, rejecting the plea of an employee, who was retired on medical grounds, to grant job on compassionate grounds to his son. The institute had rejected the claim of the employee citing the age of his son.

As per the institute’s recruitment rules, the upper age limit for Group ‘C’ employees was fixed at 28 years while the age of the former employee’s son was 28 years and eight months.

The tribunal has directed the institute to consider the case of the applicant for grant of compassionate appointment in view of the provisions of the scheme of compassionate appointment notified vide a government order dated August 2, 2022. The order specifically provides for the competent authority to grant relaxation in the upper age limit while making appointments on compassionate grounds.

Chuni Lal, a resident of Shimla, in the application filed before the tribunal through counsel Rohit Seth, had challenged the institute order dated August 8, 2019, whereby his representation to provide a job to his dependent family member on compassionate grounds was rejected.

He stated that the order was issued in violation of the policy for compassionate appointment and deprived the family from living in a dignified manner by having a sufficient source of income. He stated that he was appointed as gardener in the institute in 1985. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological disorder, in the year 2011 and he was under treatment since then.

As his condition started deteriorating and it became difficult to carry out the official duties, he submitted a request in 2018 to the institute for premature retirement from service and for grant of compassionate appointment to his son to enable the family to subsist and continue his treatment after retirement. He retired from the service in 2019, but his request for employment to his dependent son was rejected on the grounds that he was overage for the post.

After hearing the arguments, the tribunal observed that para 6(B) of the letter of the Department of Personnel of Training (DoPT) dated August 2, 2022, provided for the competent authority to grant relaxation of the upper age limit for making appointments on compassionate grounds.

The competent authority was well within its powers to relax the upper age limit for compassionate appointment in view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case of the applicant, but the respondents failed to consider it.

In view of this, the order dated August 8, 2019, was being quashed and set aside. The respondents were directed to consider the case of the applicant in view of the DoPT order dated August 2, 2022. The exercise shall be carried out within eight weeks of the receipt of this order, stated the tribunal.