In short. Under the DoPT scheme, the spouse, son or daughter (including adopted), or a dependent brother or sister of an unmarried employee, can apply if a regular Central Government employee dies in service or retires on medical grounds before 55. The family must be in financial need, and appointment is to a Group C post within a 5% quota. It is not an enforceable right.
This post explains who can apply for compassionate appointment, how departments decide, the reasons claims are rejected and what a family can do when a claim is stuck or refused. It is based mainly on the Department of Personnel and Training's consolidated instructions of 16 January 2013, which apply to Central Government departments and are followed by the Delhi government, with notes on banks, PSUs and Uttar Pradesh. It is written as of October 2026.
Compassionate appointment usually comes up alongside the deceased employee's terminal benefits: family pension, gratuity, GPF and insurance. Those are separate entitlements, covered in our post on pension disputes for government employees. If a claim has to go to the tribunal, our page on service laws and CAT practice describes how the firm handles service cases.
- Scheme
- DoPT consolidated instructions, OM dated 16 January 2013, as amended
- Who qualifies
- Dependent spouse, son, daughter, or brother or sister of an unmarried employee
- When
- Death in service, or retirement on medical grounds before 55 (57 for erstwhile Group D)
- Posts
- Group C, within 5% of direct recruitment vacancies
- Time limit
- No fixed limit under the DoPT scheme; delay weakens the claim
- Where to challenge
- CAT for Central and Delhi govt; High Court for PSUs, banks and states
Is compassionate appointment a right?
No. The Supreme Court has said consistently that compassionate appointment is an exception to the rule that public jobs must be filled by open competition under Articles 14 and 16. In Umesh Kumar Nagpal v State of Haryana (1994), it held that the purpose is to enable the family to get over a sudden financial crisis caused by the death of the earning member, not to give a post to the family because a member died. The scheme is also limited to the lowest posts, not to the post the deceased held.
Three things follow. First, there must be a scheme: if the employer has no compassionate appointment scheme, the family cannot claim one. Second, the family's need must be assessed; a family with substantial income or assets can be refused even if every other condition is met. Third, the claim weakens with time, because a family that has managed for many years is presumed to have overcome the immediate crisis.
That does not mean departments can do as they please. A claim must be considered fairly, under the right scheme, by the right committee, within a reasonable time, and rejected only for reasons the scheme allows. Most successful challenges are about that process, not about a right to the job itself.
Who is eligible for compassionate appointment?
Under the DoPT scheme, the deceased or retired employee must have been a regular government servant. Daily wage, casual, contract, ad hoc and re-employed staff are excluded; confirmed work-charged staff are included. The scheme applies where the employee died while in service, including by suicide, or retired on medical grounds before the age of 55 (57 for the erstwhile Group D). Members of the armed forces who die in service, are killed in action or are boarded out on medical grounds are also covered, with their own conditions.
The applicant must be a dependent family member: the spouse; a son or daughter, including an adopted child; or, if the employee was unmarried, a brother or sister. The applicant must have been wholly dependent on the employee at the time of death or retirement. Only one member of the family is appointed, and the appointee signs an undertaking to maintain the other dependants.
The applicant must also meet the eligibility and qualifications in the recruitment rules for the post. The upper age limit can be relaxed, but the applicant must be at least 18. A widow can be appointed to a Multi-Tasking Staff post even without the educational qualification where on-the-job training is enough. A minor child can apply once they turn 18, though the delay that creates is often the reason claims fail later.
Who qualifies and who usually does not
The table applies to the DoPT scheme. Banks, PSUs and state governments have their own schemes with different definitions, so check the scheme that applied to the deceased employee.
| Situation | Usual position | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Regular employee died in service | Covered | Including death by suicide |
| Regular employee retired on medical grounds before 55 | Covered | 57 for the erstwhile Group D |
| Contract, casual, daily wage or ad hoc employee died | Not covered | Unless a specific scheme for that body provides otherwise |
| Employee died after normal retirement | Not covered | Family receives family pension instead |
| Widow or widower | Covered | Commonly given preference by families and committees |
| Son or daughter, including adopted | Covered | Must be wholly dependent |
| Married daughter | Increasingly covered | Several High Courts have struck down exclusions; dependency must still be shown |
| Child of a second marriage | Cannot be excluded on that ground alone | Union of India v V.R. Tripathi (2018) |
| Brother or sister | Only if the employee was unmarried | Must have been wholly dependent |
| Employee went missing | Possible under DoPT instructions | Conditions include a police report and a waiting period; check current instructions |
How is the family's financial condition assessed?
This is where most claims are decided. The scheme asks the committee to make a balanced and objective assessment of the family's condition, taking into account its assets and liabilities, the terminal benefits received, family pension, other earning members, the number of dependants, the ages of the children and the family's essential needs. An application must not be rejected merely because the family received terminal benefits; they are one factor among several.
Many departments use a points system to rank applicants, giving marks for low family pension, low terminal benefits, the number of minor or unmarried dependants, the absence of an earning member, the remaining service of the deceased, and the absence of property. Applicants are then ranked against the vacancies available in the 5% quota. A family that scores reasonably may still not be appointed in a year when there are few vacancies, and may be carried forward for consideration in the next year.
When Advocate B.K. Singh looks at a rejected compassionate appointment claim, the first document he asks for is the committee's points sheet or assessment note, obtained through RTI if necessary. Errors in it are common: a house counted as owned when it was a parent's, a son's temporary job treated as a regular income, family pension counted at a figure the family never received. Those errors are concrete, and a tribunal can correct them in a way it cannot correct a general sense of unfairness.
Is there a time limit to apply for compassionate appointment?
The DoPT scheme has no fixed time limit. Its earlier three-year limit for considering applications was withdrawn in 2012, and the consolidated instructions allow even belated applications to be considered, at a senior level, with the caution that a family that has survived for years presumably has some means of subsistence. State and bank schemes often do have limits, frequently a period such as five years from death, with power to relax. Read the scheme that applies.
Courts take delay seriously even where the scheme does not. In State of West Bengal v Debabrata Tiwari (2023), the Supreme Court held that a claim made or pursued after a considerable lapse of time, once the immediate crisis has passed, may not be entertained. The logic is the purpose of the scheme: it exists to meet an immediate need, and a long gap suggests the need has been met.
Delay by the department is a different matter. In Malaya Nanda Sethy v State of Orissa (2022), the Supreme Court said applications for compassionate appointment should be decided within six months, because the purpose is defeated if the family waits for years. If your application has been pending for months without a decision, that delay is itself a ground to approach the tribunal for a direction.
Which scheme applies: the one at the date of death or the one at decision?
This question matters when the employer changes its scheme while an application is pending, for example by replacing appointments with a lump-sum ex gratia payment, or by tightening the income criteria. The Supreme Court has gone both ways. Some decisions hold that the scheme in force on the date of death governs the claim; others, including N.C. Santhosh v State of Karnataka (2020), hold that the scheme in force when the application is considered applies.
In Canara Bank v Ajithkumar G.K. (February 2025), the Supreme Court noted that the conflict remains unresolved and that a reference to a larger bench, made in State Bank of India v Sheo Shankar Tewari (2019), was still pending. Until that reference is answered, the outcome in a given case can turn on which line of decisions the bench follows and on the wording of the new scheme, including whether it says pending applications will be decided under the old one.
If your claim is caught by a change of scheme, keep copies of both schemes and the date your application was filed and acknowledged. Argue the old scheme where it helps, but also show that you qualify under the new one if you can, so that the case does not rest entirely on an unsettled question.
Can a married daughter or a child of a second marriage get compassionate appointment?
Increasingly, yes. The DoPT scheme lists "son or daughter" without excluding married daughters, though it requires dependency. Several state schemes used to exclude married daughters, and High Courts in different states have struck down such exclusions as discrimination on the ground of sex while still requiring the married daughter to show she was dependent on the deceased. If a scheme in your case still excludes married daughters, that exclusion is worth challenging, but dependency will be the real fight.
Children of a second marriage stand on firmer ground. In Union of India v V.R. Tripathi (2018), the Supreme Court held that the children of a second marriage, which may be void in law, cannot be denied consideration for compassionate appointment on that ground alone, since the law treats such children as legitimate. The Railway Board and other departments have since issued instructions in line with that decision. The second wife herself, whose marriage is void, is in a different position.
Family disputes over who should be appointed are common, particularly between a widow and an adult son, or between two families of the deceased. Departments often ask for a no-objection affidavit from the other dependants. Where the family cannot agree, the department may delay the decision indefinitely. A written family settlement, recording who will be appointed and how the others will be maintained, usually moves the file faster than any legal notice.
The rules and decisions that govern compassionate appointment
These are the sources most often relied on in Delhi NCR. The scheme of the deceased employee's own employer comes first; the decisions below explain how courts read those schemes.
DoPT OM 14014/02/2012-Estt.(D), 16 January 2013
The consolidated scheme for Central Government departments: eligibility, dependants, Group C posts, the 5% ceiling, financial assessment, relaxations, undertaking to maintain dependants and seniority of appointees. Later OMs have modified parts of it, so ask for the current consolidated version.
Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution
Public employment must be open to all on equal terms. Compassionate appointment is a narrow exception, which is why courts read schemes strictly and do not extend them by sympathy.
Umesh Kumar Nagpal v State of Haryana (1994)
The foundational decision: compassionate appointment meets an immediate financial crisis, is limited to the lowest posts, and cannot be claimed as a matter of course or after the crisis has passed.
Malaya Nanda Sethy v State of Orissa (2022)
Applications should be decided within six months; long delays by the department defeat the purpose of the scheme.
UP Recruitment of Dependants of Government Servants Dying in Harness Rules 1974
The scheme for Uttar Pradesh government employees, relevant to families in Noida and Ghaziabad. It has its own definitions of family and its own time limits, so read the current text.
Section 19, Administrative Tribunals Act 1985
The route for a dependant of a Central or Delhi government employee to challenge a rejection or delay before the CAT.
How to apply for compassionate appointment
The process below follows the DoPT scheme. Banks, PSUs and state departments use similar steps with their own forms.
Get the scheme and the application form
Ask the deceased employee's office, usually the administration or establishment section, for the current scheme and form. Ask in writing and keep a copy of the request. Some departments now accept applications online.
Agree within the family on who will apply
Only one member is appointed. Decide who it will be and record it in a family settlement or no-objection affidavits from the other dependants. This avoids months of delay later.
File the application with every document
Submit the form with the death certificate, family details, proof of dependency, income and asset statements, educational certificates and identity documents. Get a receipt with a diary number and date.
Respond quickly to any query
Departments often ask for further papers, a police verification or a medical certificate. Reply in writing within the time given, and keep copies. Unanswered queries are a common reason files go cold.
Track the committee's consideration
The application goes to a committee that assesses need and ranks applicants against vacancies. Ask in writing when the committee is meeting and whether your case is on its agenda. If it is carried forward, ask for that in writing too.
Ask for reasons if rejected or delayed
If the claim is rejected, ask for the speaking order, the minutes and the points sheet, under RTI if necessary. If six months pass without a decision, send a written reminder citing the delay.
Represent, then approach the tribunal or court
Make a representation pointing out the specific errors. If that fails, file an Original Application before the CAT or a writ petition in the High Court, depending on the employer.
Documents for a compassionate appointment application
Departments differ slightly, but these are the papers almost every committee asks for. Keep a full set of copies.
About the deceased employee
- Death certificate, or medical retirement order
- Appointment order and last pay slip
- Service book details or a service certificate
- Post-mortem report and FIR copy, where death was unnatural
About the family
- Family member certificate or legal heir certificate
- Proof of relationship for the applicant
- No-objection affidavits from other dependants
- Undertaking to maintain dependants
Financial condition
- Income certificate from the tehsil or SDM
- Statement of assets: land, house, vehicles, deposits
- Details of terminal benefits and family pension received
- Statement of loans and liabilities
- Details of any earning family member
About the applicant
- Educational certificates
- Date of birth proof
- Identity and address proof
- Caste or disability certificate if relevant
- Character certificate and photographs
The legal heir certificate and the succession certificate are often confused. For a compassionate appointment you need proof of the family and dependency, not a court's succession certificate; our post on legal heir certificates and succession certificates explains the difference.
Why are compassionate appointment claims rejected?
The reason given most often is that the family is not indigent. Committees count terminal benefits, family pension, property and any earning member, and conclude that the family can manage. This is a judgment, and tribunals will not substitute their own view, but they will intervene where the assessment counted things it should not have, missed things it should have counted, or gave no reasons. A rejection that just says "not found indigent" without showing how is open to challenge.
The second common reason is lack of vacancy within the 5% quota. That is not really a rejection, and the scheme expects the case to be kept in view if a vacancy is expected. Ask whether your case has been carried forward or closed, and in writing. Some departments close cases after a fixed number of considerations; check the current instructions and whether your case was considered the required number of times.
Other reasons include the applicant being over age or not qualified for the post offered, the deceased being a contract or casual employee, the application being made long after the death, a family dispute or the applicant not being wholly dependent. Some of these are fatal; others, such as age, can be relaxed. A rejection on a ground the scheme permits relaxation for, without considering relaxation, can be challenged as a failure to exercise discretion.
A made-up example: the widow in Dwarka and the son's temporary job
Here's a made-up example. A Group C employee of a Central Government office in Delhi dies of a heart attack at 49, leaving a widow, a son of 22 and a daughter of 17. The family lives in a flat in Dwarka bought on a housing loan, of which ₹18 lakh is still outstanding. The son, a graduate, applies for compassionate appointment with the widow's consent. Eleven months later, the department rejects the claim on the ground that the family has received terminal benefits of ₹22 lakh, owns a flat and has an earning member.
The RTI reply shows the points sheet. It counts the flat as an asset with no deduction for the loan, counts the terminal benefits without noting that ₹15 lakh went to clear the loan and a medical bill, and treats the son's three-month internship at a stipend of ₹8,000 a month as employment. None of these was put to the family before the decision.
A representation pointing out each error, with the loan statement and internship letter attached, is the first step. If the department does not reconsider, an Original Application before the CAT asking for the rejection to be set aside and the claim reconsidered on a correct assessment has a reasonable basis. The tribunal is unlikely to order an appointment directly; the realistic relief is reconsideration within a fixed time, which in a case like this often leads to the son being placed on the list.
Where to challenge a rejection: CAT, High Court or state tribunal
For families of Central Government and Delhi government employees, the challenge goes to the Central Administrative Tribunal, usually the Principal Bench in New Delhi for Delhi matters. Our post on filing an Original Application in the CAT explains the application and fee. The tribunal's limitation is one year under section 21 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, but given the case law on delay, a family should not use the whole year.
Families of employees of public sector banks, PSUs and statutory corporations that are not under the CAT file a writ petition in the High Court under Article 226. For Delhi-based employers, that is the Delhi High Court; our post on writ petitions in the Delhi High Court covers the process. Families of UP government employees generally approach the Allahabad High Court, and Haryana families the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Whatever the forum, the usual relief is an order setting aside the rejection and directing the employer to reconsider within a fixed period, applying the correct criteria. Tribunals and courts rarely order appointment directly, because the assessment of need and the availability of vacancies are for the employer. A well-argued case aims for a fresh decision on correct facts.
Bank, PSU and private sector schemes
Public sector banks and many PSUs have their own compassionate appointment schemes, and several have replaced appointment with a lump-sum ex gratia payment in many or all cases, with income and other conditions. The question of which scheme applies, discussed above, comes up most often in bank cases. Read the board-approved scheme and the circulars carefully, and note the date the scheme changed against the date of death.
Some PSUs, particularly in coal and other heavy industries, provide employment to dependants under long-term wage settlements rather than a general compassionate scheme. Those claims depend on the wording of the settlement and are often decided through the industrial relations machinery as well as by writ.
Private employers have no general legal obligation to offer compassionate appointment. A family can claim it only if the employment contract, a settlement or a company policy provides for it. What a private employee's family can claim, as a matter of law, are the dues: unpaid wages, gratuity, PF and insurance. Our page on labour and industrial laws covers those claims.
After appointment: post, seniority and the undertaking to maintain dependants
A compassionate appointee cannot later insist on a higher post than the one offered, on the ground that they were qualified for it. Courts have consistently refused such claims: once the immediate crisis has been met by the appointment, the scheme has served its purpose. If you are offered a post you believe is below the one the scheme allows, raise it before accepting, in writing, rather than after joining.
Under the DoPT scheme, compassionate appointees are placed at the bottom of the seniority list of the year in which they are appointed. They are then regular employees in every sense, with the same rights to promotion, pay and protection as anyone else in the cadre.
The appointee signs an undertaking to maintain the other dependants of the deceased. If they neglect a widowed mother or younger siblings, the scheme allows action, including termination after a show-cause notice. Families sometimes use this provision against an appointee who has stopped supporting them. It is a serious remedy, and the department must give the appointee a hearing before acting on it.
If a family member has died in service: this month
- Get the death certificate and the deceased's appointment order and last pay slip
- Ask the office in writing for the current compassionate appointment scheme and form
- Agree within the family on who will apply and record it in writing
- Collect income, asset and liability papers, including loan statements
- File the application with all documents and keep the diary number
- Follow up the terminal benefits and family pension claims separately
- Write to the office if there is no decision within six months
- If rejected, get the minutes and points sheet under RTI before replying
When a challenge is worth it, and when it is not
A challenge is worth bringing where the department has made an identifiable mistake: counting assets wrongly, ignoring liabilities, refusing to consider relaxation the scheme allows, applying the wrong scheme, excluding a married daughter or a child of a second marriage, or simply not deciding for a year or more. These are errors a tribunal can correct, and correction often leads to appointment on reconsideration.
A challenge is unlikely to succeed where the family has substantial income or property, where many years have passed since the death without any application, or where the deceased was a contract or casual worker not covered by any scheme. In those cases, the energy is better spent on making sure the family receives every rupee of pension, gratuity, GPF, insurance and leave encashment due. In service matters that reach Advocate B.K. Singh, families are sometimes surprised to find that the terminal benefits claim, not the job, is where the department has gone most wrong.
If you want an advocate to read a rejection order and the scheme before you reply, the team at B.K. Singh & Associates can look at the papers and tell you where the claim stands and the time you have. You can reach us through the online legal enquiry page; the courts and tribunals where Advocate B.K. Singh appears are listed on his profile.
Frequently asked questions
Who is eligible for compassionate appointment in central government?
A dependent spouse, son or daughter (including adopted), or a dependent brother or sister of an unmarried employee, where a regular Central Government employee died in service or retired on medical grounds before 55. The family must be in financial need and the applicant must meet the recruitment rules for a Group C post, with age relaxation possible.
Is compassionate appointment a legal right?
No. The Supreme Court treats it as a concession under a scheme, to help a family over an immediate crisis, not as a right or an inheritance. You do have a right to be considered fairly under the scheme, within a reasonable time, and to a reasoned decision.
What is the time limit to apply for compassionate appointment?
The DoPT scheme has no fixed time limit since 2012, though belated cases need approval at a senior level. State and bank schemes often set limits, such as five years from death. Courts treat long delay as a sign the crisis has passed, so apply as early as possible.
Can a married daughter get compassionate appointment?
Under the DoPT scheme, a daughter is eligible without a marital bar, subject to dependency. Several High Courts have struck down state rules that excluded married daughters. She will still need to show she was dependent on the deceased.
Can the son of a second wife get compassionate appointment?
Yes, he cannot be excluded only because his mother's marriage was a second marriage. The Supreme Court held this in Union of India v V.R. Tripathi (2018), and departments such as the Railways have issued instructions accordingly.
Can compassionate appointment be refused because we received gratuity and pension?
Terminal benefits can be considered, but the DoPT scheme says an application should not be rejected merely because the family received them. The committee must weigh them along with liabilities, dependants and other factors. A rejection based only on the amount received, ignoring loans and expenses, can be challenged.
What posts are given on compassionate grounds?
Under the DoPT scheme, Group C posts against the direct recruitment quota, within a ceiling of 5% of those vacancies. The appointee cannot claim the post the deceased held or a higher post later.
How long does compassionate appointment take?
The Supreme Court has said applications should be decided within six months. In practice it depends on vacancies and committee meetings, and cases are sometimes carried forward. If six months pass without a decision, write to the department and consider approaching the CAT or High Court for a direction.
Can contract or casual employees' families get compassionate appointment?
Not under the DoPT scheme, which covers only regular employees, though confirmed work-charged staff are included. Some bodies have their own schemes, so check the employer's rules. The family can still claim wages, PF, gratuity and insurance dues.
What can I do if my compassionate appointment application is rejected?
Get the speaking order, minutes and points sheet, under RTI if necessary, and send a representation pointing out specific errors. If that fails, file an Original Application in the CAT (Central and Delhi government) or a writ petition in the High Court (banks, PSUs, states). The usual relief is reconsideration on correct facts.
Is compassionate appointment available in banks?
Public sector banks have their own schemes, and many now offer a lump-sum ex gratia payment instead of a job in most cases, subject to income conditions. Which version applies can depend on the date of death and the scheme's terms. Challenges go to the High Court in a writ petition.
Can a compassionate appointment be cancelled later?
Yes, in limited cases: if it was obtained by false information, or if the appointee breaks the undertaking to maintain the deceased's dependants. Cancellation needs a show-cause notice and a hearing. An appointment made in accordance with the scheme cannot be cancelled arbitrarily.
Written and reviewed at B.K. Singh & Associates
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M., with more than twenty years of practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, district courts and tribunals across Delhi NCR. This article explains the general law as of 24 October 2026; it is not legal advice on your facts.