Married daughter cannot be denied compassionate appointment: HC

Dehradun: A single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari of the Uttarakhand High Court has set aside an order of the animal husbandry department rejecting Pithoragarh resident Bhavna Bhatt's request for compassionate appointment solely on the ground that she was a "married daughter". The rejection order was passed on May 8, 2023, by the department's additional director, Kumaon Region.Bhatt's counsel relied on a 2017 full bench judgment of the HC in a similar matter, which held that excluding a married daughter from the definition of "family" under rule 2(c) of the Dying in Harness Rules, 1974, was discriminatory and violative of Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution.
He also argued that the reasoning in the 2023 order that "married daughter" was included in the definition of family only from Sept 4, 2019 was legally untenable, as a constitutional court judgment operates retrospectively unless expressly stated otherwise. Therefore, the benefit of the 2017 ruling could not be denied merely because the rule was formally amended in 2019.Opposing the plea, the state counsel submitted that the petitioner's father had died on May 4, 2016, and her case must be considered under the rules in force at that time. The HC found no merit in this contention.The court observed, "It is well settled that a constitutional court decision operates retrospectively, as it declares the law and does not enact it." Relying on the Supreme Court's judgment in Kanishka Sinha & Ors vs State of West Bengal & Ors, the court noted that "while legislation is ordinarily prospective unless expressly made retrospective, a court judgment is retrospective unless it specifically limits its operation to the future."Quashing the 2023 order, the HC on Tuesday remanded the matter to the competent authority to reconsider Bhatt's claim for compassionate appointment. However, it left open for examination other relevant aspects, including whether the petitioner was dependent on her father at the time of his death.