Himachal Pradesh High court while hearing an issue of excluding married daughters from list of eligible person to get jobs of deceased government employees on compassion basis. High Court while deciding the issue said that “there can be no artificial classification between a married son and a married daughter only on the basis of sex, as it will be equivalent to gender discrimination, which is specifically prohibited under the Constitution of India.”
High Court took this as an exception and allowed the women to get appointment on compassionate grounds after the death of her father and also directed the government to appoint her if she fulfills the criteria.
The petition was filed by Mamta devi who said that her father was a District Ayurvedic Officer at Kullu died during employment. She added that there is no male member in their family and she applied for appointment on compassionate grounds but that was rejected on the grounds that there was no provision of compassionate employment to a married daughter of a deceased government employee.
While passing the judgment the court said that “Marriage doesn’t alter the relationship between a daughter and her parents, nor it creates severance of their relationship. As son remains after his marriage & marriage does not alter or severe his relation with his parents. Similarly, a daughter is always a daughter to her parents, her marriage also does not alter or severe her relation with her parents”. The court also added that the purpose of employment on compassionate grounds is not only employment but also to provide financial support to the family of the deceased who died in harness.
