The undersigned is directed to say that consolidated instructions on compassionate appointment Under the Central Government were issued vide this Department's O.M. No. 14014/2/20 12-Estt. (D) dated 16.1.2013. Para 13 of these consolidated instructions provides guidelines to the competent authorities in Ministries/Departments for dealing with requests/ applications seeking appointment on compassionate grounds and disposal of such requests/ applications thereof by the Ministries/Departments.
References have been received from different Ministries/ Departments relating to the procedure and modalities involved in processing claims of compassionate appointment. The lack of uniformity in processing such claims by different Government offices, has also come under scrutiny of the Courts. including Central Administrative Tribunals. As a result, a need has been felt to bring in more objectivity and transparency as well as streamline the process in dealing with requests/Applications seeking compassionate appointment. The Hon'ble Jabalpur Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal, in its Order dated 26.9.2019. in O.A. No. 202/00756/20l7of Deepanshu Raje v/s Union of India & Others. inter alia directed Secretary. Department of Personnel and Training, to issue revised guidelines, so as to bring in more transparency and probity in the system in processing the claims of Compassionate Appointment.
Therefore, after careful examination, the procedure, as provided in O.M. dated 16.1.20 13. has been reviewed in consultation with the major stakeholder Ministries/Departments. Accordingly, it has been decided to substitute existing Para 13 of the consolidated instructions (OM dated 16.1.2013), with revised Para 13 given in Appendix
APPENDIX TO O.M. No. 43019/9/2019-Estt.(D) DATED 23 August, 2021 13. PROCEDURE (existing para 13 of OM dated 16.1.2013 stands substituted as follows)
I) The Welfare Officer in each Ministry/Department/Office or a senior officer may be deputed to meet the family members of the deceased Government Servant and apprise them of the terminal benefits available to the family. This may be done at the earliest possible, preferably, within 30 days of death.
ii) In case it is observed by the Welfare Officer/Senior Officer that the condition of the family of the deceased Government Servant is indigent, the family should also be apprised of the scheme for compassionate appointment.
iii) In such cases, the Welfare Officer or any other Officer would assist the family member of the deceased Government servant in applying for appointment on compassionate grounds. The application should be made in the format prescribed as in Annexure. All assistance should be extended to enable such family member to fill the Application Form for compassionate appointment. The Applicant should be advised in person about the requirements and formalities to be completed by him. The Applicant should also be given detailed information of the posts to which they can apply.
iv) The Administration shall satisfy itself regarding the correctness of the details entered in the Application form and family income and other details computed for processing the Application. During scrutiny, if any additional details or information having a bearing on the case, emerge, the same should be added as supplementary Note to the Application.
v) Every application found to be in order, should be acknowledged by assigning a unique Registration number. All pending Applications should also be assigned unique registration number. This may be done within 2 to 3 weeks of time. Once a unique registration number has been assigned to an application, the Applicant, including those whose applications are pending, may be informed through email or other forms of communication (including digital modes of communication) of their Unique Application Registration Number.
vi) Some Departments such as CBIC, D/o Posts, D/o Defence have devised their own point based merit system, for processing claims for compassionate appointment. In order to bring in transparency and objectivity in dealing with such claims, all Ministries/Departments, who have not yet developed such a system, may do so by devising their own point based merit system for assessing the merit of the claims of compassionate appointments.
vii) While informing the Applicants of the registration number of their Application, they may also be informed of the likely number of vacancies likely to be available to be filled on compassionate grounds as well as be provided with a copy of the point based merit system.
viii) To consider the various applications and to recommend individual applicant for grant of compassionate appointment, a Committee, comprising three members (one Chairman and two Members), may be constituted. The Committee may be chaired by an Officer not below the rank of Director/Deputy Secretary in the Ministry/Department and officers of equivalent rank in the case of attached and subordinate offices.
ix) The Committee may preferably meet once in a year, to consider all fresh requests received in the last calendar year, in addition to pending applications. In case large number of applications are received at different times during the calendar year, the Committee may meet twice or more to consider the applications.
x) Prior to every meeting of the Committee, the Applicants whose applications are being considered, should be informed, through email or other forms of communication (including digital modes of communication), of the number of vacancies in each grade for which they are being considered as also the date the Committee is due to meet to consider their Application. However, the Applicant(s) would not be required to have any personal interaction, either with the Administration or the Committee and that the Applicants may not be asked to be present during the meeting of the Committee.
xi) Every valid application shall be assessed strictly on the basis of the point based merit system formulated by the concerned administrative Ministry/Department.
xii) The Committee should make its recommendation for appointment on compassionate ground as per the total points obtained by each Applicant, under the applicable point based merit system.
xiii) The result of each round of selection should be communicated to the Applicants. The points awarded against each parameter along with total merit points earned, should be provided to the Applicants through email or other forms of communication.
xiv) The minutes of each meeting of the Committee including the merit points earned by each Applicant should also be placed, within a period of three weeks from the date of meeting of the Committee, in public domain on the website of the Ministry/Department/Organization for information of all concerned.
xv) Recommendation of the Committee should be placed before the competent authority for a decision. If the competent authority disagrees with the committee's recommendation, the case may be referred to the next higher authority for a decision.
