Widowed Daughter-in-Law Is a ‘Dependent’ for Compassionate Appointment: Rajasthan High Court Reads Her Into ‘Widowed Daughter’

The appellant's mother-in-law, a Class IV employee of the Public Health and Engineering Department, died in service on 07.02.2013; both her sons, including the appellant's husband, had died in 2006 and 2007 (paras 8-8.1). With the family's agreement, the appellant sought compassionate appointment, but the Department replied in 2013 and 2014 that a daughter-in-law was not a ‘dependent’ under Rule 2(c) (paras 8.2-8.5, 12). After representations, she filed a writ petition in January 2018 (paras 8.4, 8.6). The State's only defence was the definition (paras 8.7.1-8.7.2). A Single Judge dismissed it on 28.09.2022 for delay and want of a statutory provision (paras 1, 14). In appeal, the State relied on the Supreme Court's Debabrata Tiwari ruling on delay (paras 10-10.2).

The Bench noted that its Division Bench in Sushila Devi had granted relief to a widowed daughter-in-law in the same circumstances, and that the Supreme Court dismissed the State's special leave petition on 09.10.2023 (paras 15, 19). In Smt. Pinki, a Single Bench had read ‘widowed daughter’ purposively to include a widowed daughter-in-law; the Division Bench upheld that result in 2012 but left the question open (paras 16, 18). Answering it, the Court held that ‘dependent’ in Rule 2(c), as amended in 2021, includes a widowed daughter-in-law where widowed and unmarried daughters are included, since she may have to take the role of a son or daughter when none survives (paras 20, 25). A hyper-technical reading was rejected: the word must be understood in its context and purpose (paras 23-23.1). Excluding her would be an incomplete construction, and the 2021 amendment adding ‘married daughter’ fortified this reading (paras 27-28). Debabrata Tiwari was distinguished: it involved a ten-year delay under circulars and schemes, whereas this claim rests on statutory Rules, the Department handled it till 2014, retiral benefits were settled till 2017 and the petition followed in 2018 (paras 17, 21, 29).