Karnataka High Court directs NWKRTC to reconsider compassionate appointment plea of woman

Bengaluru: The Dharwad bench of the Karnataka High Court has directed the management of Northwestern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) to reconsider the application seeking appointment on compassionate grounds by a woman with an extendable age limit, owing to the circumstances narrated by her.

Justice M Nagaprasanna has directed the corporation to reconsider the application of Saroja whose husband Ganesh Rao Kondai, a driver with NWKRTC, had died on September 27, 2023.

The petitioner contended that she was 47-years-old when her husband died. She submitted representations seeking compassionate appointment explaining the financial condition of the family. Her representations were rejected in January and May 2025, citing that her age is beyond the cut-off age of 43 years.

It was argued that the scheme for appointment on compassionate grounds, though restricts the age to 43, undermines the objective of compassionate appointment. It was submitted that if the scheme is read strictly, it is as though one has to become a widow before 43 years. She cited a similar case (Lakshmavva case), in which the High Court held that the appointment on compassionate grounds cannot be turned down. The high court in that case had also directed the NWKRTC to frame a policy that is humane in nature.

Justice Nagaprasanna noted that in the Lakshmavva case, a co-ordinate bench already observed that the appointment on compassionate grounds should be considered without reference to the upper age limit of 43 years. “I am in respectful agreement with what the Co-ordinate Bench has held, but I deem it appropriate to amplify the order. It becomes opposite to refer to the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Canara Bank vs Ajith Kumar GK case,” Justice Nagaprasanna said.

The court further said, “The Supreme Court holds that the need for compassionate appointment should be the consideration by any Corporation or the employer while rejecting or accepting the application. No such analysis has been made in the case at hand, as directed by the Supreme Court in the aforesaid judgment. Therefore, the petition deserves to succeed on the sole score that the Corporation will have to now reconsider the application of the petitioner seeking appointment on compassionate grounds with regard to a relaxable age limit or the extendable age limit, owing to the circumstances that the applicant has narrated in two of the representations submitted by her.”