In Brief
The father of the respondent, a Union Ministry employee, died in May 1996. His widow sought compassionate appointment for the respondent in 1997, which was rejected. After rejections in 1999 and 2007, the respondent filed multiple tribunal applications. The High Court eventually granted mandamus for compassionate appointment in 2016. The Supreme Court reversed this, holding that compassionate appointment is designed to address immediate financial crisis following an employee's death. A claim raised eleven years after death had become stale and lost its essential character. The delay extinguished the basis for granting compassionate employment, and the claim was rightly rejected.
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