Karnataka govt may lift age bar for jobs to SC/ST atrocity victims' children

Bengaluru: The state government is considering replacing a clause in the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which mandates that the children of SC/ST individuals who died in an atrocity case must complete 18 years of age within three years of the death to qualify for government jobs on Compassionate Grounds (CG).

Since 2018, 60 applicants (11.23 per cent of total applications) have missed out on government jobs due to the existing age bar. A recent meeting of the State Vigilance and Monitoring Committee chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah discussed various aspects of this issue.

Currently, according to the Act, if a death occurs in an atrocity incident, the deceased's family receives a monetary compensation of Rs 8.25 lakh (50 per cent after the post-mortem and the remaining 50 per cent when the chargesheet is sent to the court).

Additionally, the deceased's widow receives a monthly pension of Rs 5,000, and an eligible family member gets a government job on CG.

However, this rule denies government jobs to the children of the deceased aged 5-14 years. According to sources, the Social Welfare Department favours removing the age bar, but the final decision has not yet been made.

Compassionate appointments

As per data from the Social Welfare Department, 534 applications for compassionate appointments have been received since 2018. Of these, 166 have received appointment orders while 251 have been rejected.

Of the 251 rejections, 151 were due to the absence of eligible heirs and 60 were because of the age bar.

In 2024-25, Rs 26.85 crore was released as compensation to 2,997 victims.

Speaking to DH, former MP L Hanumanthaiah said, "This will be a good decision as age should not restrict these children from becoming government employees. Thus, those children who were denied job opportunities will now get them. This move is a progressive step for the development of these communities."

Under the current rule, applications must be submitted within two years of the death. However, since the earlier rule required submission within one year, the meeting discussed treating those previously rejected proposals as special cases on a one-time basis.

A senior official from the Social Welfare Department told DH that before 2022, family members of the deceased with independent incomes exceeding Rs 40,000 per year were not eligible for CG jobs.

Though this clause has been removed now, the official said that the meeting discussed providing a one-time opportunity for those who lost jobs because of it.