Assam: Compassionate appointments give way totally to family pension scheme

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The state government has decided that no cases for appointment on compassionate grounds to the family members of state government employees who died in harness or retire prematurely on being declared permanently incapacitated for service or missing and whose whereabouts are not known prior to March 31, 2017 will be entertained. Instead, compassionate appointment cases would be considered for the Compassionate Family Pension Scheme.

The Government of Assam in Finance Department, in complete supersession of the compassionate appointment policy notified by Personnel (B) Department dated June 1, 2015 and other related Personnel Department office memoranda (OM), issued a Notification for Compassionate Family Pension Scheme in lieu of Compassionate Appointment dated September 14, 2017 on the condition that the scheme is applicable to those employees who died/die in harness on or after April 1, 2017 and the Personnel Department's notifications related to compassionate appointment would be applicable to only those who died on or before March 31, 2017.

While considering an appointment under the scheme of compassionate appointment, the appointing authority is required to keep in mind that the concept is limited to the need for immediate assistance. If several years have passed since the death of a government servant, it would appear on the face of it that the family has managed to support itself all these years and has some means of subsistence. In such a case, compassionate appointment would not entirely be justified. A compassionate appointment is not a matter of right, and the same was envisaged from the point of view of the immediate, unexpected hardship faced by the distressed family and the need for assistance to such family having regard to the compelling financial circumstances, if any, of the deceased's dependents at the time of death of the sole bread earner. A compassionate appointment cannot be claimed or offered after a lapse of considerable time and after the crisis is over. Such a delayed appointment would also amount to treating a claim for compassionate appointment as though it were a matter of inheritance based on the line of succession. Appointment on compassionate grounds should not be a source of recruitment but a means for the family to tide over the sudden financial distress.

The Supreme Court, in a number of cases, has held that granting compassionate appointment after a lapse of considerable time after the death of a government employee would not be in furtherance of the object of a scheme of compassionate appointment.

Also read: CDA Guwahati to Host SPARSH Outreach Programme in Bongaigaon on August 30 for Defence Pensioners (sentinelassam.com)

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