Compassionate appointment merit is assessed on application-date circumstances, with later changes relevant to fresh consideration.

The petitioner’s father, a chowkidar at the Officers Training Academy, Gaya, died in harness on 24 December 2017.

The petitioner’s mother applied for his compassionate appointment in 2018; after her death in November 2021, the petitioner made further applications.

The applications were returned as rejected, and on 16 January 2025 the petitioner was informed that his application had been rejected for low merit points.

He challenged the assessment, arguing that he should have received 35 points rather than the 22 points recorded by the respondents, particularly under the heads of family pension, lump-sum death benefits, and annual family income.

The respondents maintained that the assessment was correct and that the petitioner could apply afresh.

1. Whether the respondents correctly assessed the petitioner’s merit points under the compassionate-appointment scheme, based on the relevant application and assessment dates.

2. Whether the petitioner was entitled to a direction for appointment or for reconsideration of his application on the basis of an adjusted merit score.

The Court applied the Ministry of Defence’s Scheme for Compassionate Appointment—Relative Merit Points and Revised Procedure for Selection, which assesses applicants on a 100-point scale using factors including family pension, terminal benefits, family income, property, dependants, unmarried daughters, minor children, and the employee’s remaining service; appointment is based on comparative merit under the scheme.

The assessment must reflect the relevant circumstances when the application is considered; accordingly, the petitioner’s mother’s subsequent death affected the points available under the family-pension head in any later consideration.

The Court found no error in the assessment as it stood when the application was made and considered.

The mother’s family pension fell within the Rs. 16,501–19,000 slab, supporting the 12 points awarded for that head at the relevant time; however, following her death in 2021, the petitioner would be entitled to 20 points under that head if his application were considered thereafter.

The family had received Rs. 29,63,673 in lump-sum death benefits, placing it above the scheme’s stated threshold and justifying zero points.

The undisputed income certificates showed annual family income of Rs. 3,60,000, so zero points for annual income were also upheld.

On those facts, the Court rejected the challenge to the earlier assessment while preserving the petitioner’s entitlement to have the pension factor assessed according to his circumstances at any later consideration.

It clarified that if the petitioner’s application is considered subsequently, he is entitled to 20 points under the basic family-pension head following his mother’s death, and the application must otherwise be decided under the scheme.