Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Jul 31: The Supreme Court has ruled that a married daughter cannot be denied consideration for compassionate appointment merely because a state policy restricts such benefits to divorced or deserted daughters, holding that such a classification is unconstitutional and violates Article 14 of the Constitution.

A bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Prasanna B. Varale allowed an appeal filed by Sayara Khatoon and her daughter against a Patna High Court order that had upheld the rejection of the daughter's claim for compassionate appointment following the death of her father.

The appellants had challenged the Bihar government's December 10, 2014 policy, under which only divorced or deserted daughters were considered eligible for compassionate appointments.

The Bihar government had also rejected the claim citing an objection raised by the deceased employee's brother. However, the Supreme Court noted that the brother had earlier issued a no-objection certificate and observed that "the said ground for rejection no longer survives".

On the policy restricting eligibility, the bench said that any distinction between sons and daughters in matters of compassionate appointment cannot stand constitutional scrutiny.

"This Court has repeatedly held that any classification differentiating a daughter from a son is, per se, unconstitutional," the court observed.

The apex court further held that "classification restricting eligibility only to a divorced or deserted daughter cannot be sustained in the eye of law".

Rejecting the reasoning behind the Bihar government's policy, the court said there cannot be a presumption that after marriage a daughter severs all ties with her parental family and lives only with her matrimonial family.

The bench noted that the appellant had stated that although her divorce had not been formally recognised in law, she was residing with her parental family and receiving support from her mother and brother.

"In any event, adopting a hyper-technical approach cannot be a ground to deny consideration of her claim for compassionate appointment," the court said.

The Supreme Court set aside the Patna High Court order as well as the rejection of the compassionate appointment claim, directing Bihar authorities to reconsider the daughter's case on merits.

"The respondent (Bihar government) is directed to consider the case of the appellant for compassionate appointment on merits within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order," the bench ordered.