Compassionate appointee has to furnish caste certificate if demised parent had secured job in reserved category: Bombay High Court

In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court recently held that a person, who has got a job in public service on compassionate grounds, will have to furnish his or her caste/tribe validity certificate, if their parents who had secured employment in reserved category, had failed to submit the same during their lifetime [Om Anjanwad vs State of Maharashtra].A full bench comprising Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Vibha Kankanwadi noted that there were several instances wherein the parents had secured jobs in reserved posts but did not furnish a validity certificate to back their caste or tribe claims, thus, playing fraud on the public at large."We have experienced in our country for quite some time past that the dishonest spare no opportunity to obtain benefits and privileges, which are not meant for them, by fraud or deceit," Chief Justice Datta observed in his separate but concurring judgment..The bench was seized of two petitions filed by a man and a woman, both seeking directions to the authorities to refrain from insisting on caste validity certificate as they had secured the job on compassionate basis having been appointed to the post of their demised parents.The Chief Justice, in his judgment, said that if the claim of the petitioners is accepted, it would amount to approval by the Court of the failure on the part of the deceased employees to discharge their statutory obligation of producing the validity certificates after they held posts which were not meant for them."If an usurper of a public office for decades does not have any right to claim pensionary benefits, a fortiori, any dependent family member of such usurper of public office can have no better rights than him. The petitioners having come into the picture after death of their fathers could not have better rights than their fathers. Allowing them to cling on to the posts, which came in their way fortuitously, would be unjust, unfair and inequitable," Chief Justice Datta opined..In a separate judgment, Justice Ghuge speaking for himself and Justice Kankanwadi, opined the reserved category post occupied by the deceased employee would not be converted into an open category post after the demise of the employee.The said post would continue to be reserved for that category even if a vacancy has suddenly occurred due to the demise of the employee, paving way for compassionate appointment, the Court made it clear. "We, therefore, hold that the legal heir being granted compassionate appointment in view of a vacancy created by the demise of the parent, who was appointed on the post reserved for a backward category believing that he did belong to such category, will mandate the compassionate appointee to tender the validity certificate after gaining compassionate employment," the Court held..The majority judgement further said that if the petitioners or similarly placed persons, had applied for a government job independently, during the lifetime of their parents, they would have been legally bound to submit the caste validity certificate within six months of joining duties."If this be so, then, it would be illogical, nay illegal, to permit a compassionate appointee to continue in place of the deceased parent without tendering a validity certificate in the backdrop of the parent having passed away before submitting the validity certificate," the bench said.The judges noted that a compassionate appointee does not have to compete with the candidates who have applied for employment in a recruitment process."Whether, he (compassionate appointee) factually belongs to the caste/tribe on the basis of which he has earned a job, will have to be scrutinized, lest, such selection would amount to an illegality and a worthy candidate belonging to that category would end-up in losing his opportunity of securing employment," the judges observed..The bench further highlighted that in several cases, such appointees, who have died in harness, had avoided filing their validity certificates for periods ranging from 10 years to 20 years."Allowing a candidate to enjoy the fruits of employment earned on the basis of a claim of belonging to the reserved category without submitting such validity and permitting the legal heir to gain compassionate appointment only on account of the demise of the parent and that too without demanding a validity certificate, would amount to playing a fraud on the public at large," the bench opined..Further, the Court said that if an ineligible person is appointed, it would have a deleterious effect on good governance. Depriving a legitimate candidate of an appointment, as a result of the recruitment granted to an impostor would violate the rights of genuine candidates, the judgment stated."We cannot permit the illegality to be perpetrated by absolving the compassionate appointee from tendering a validity certificate, which his father was legally obliged to tender," it was concluded. .Advocate CR Thorat appeared for the petitioners.Advocate Mahesh Deshmukh assisted the Court as an Amicus Curiae.Additional Government Pleader PS Patil and advocate Yogita Thorat represented State..[Read Judgment]