Govt issues clear guidelines on compassionate employment

GANGTOK, 27 May: The Sate Government has issued clear guidelines on giving employment on compassionate grounds to the widow, son or daughter of a Government servant who dies in harness.
An official notification of the Department of Personnel dated 05 May highlights that the Notification is in supression of all the earlier notification/ Office Memorandum on the subject.
As per the Notification, the compassionate appointments will be applicable to widow/ natural son/ natural daughter of deceased employees of Group C and D category who die-in-harness. It further clarifies that the appointment shall be made only up to the post carrying the Pay Band of Rs. 5200-20200 and Grade Pay of Rs. 3400 and in the case of Teachers, carrying the Pay Band of Rs. 9300-34000 and Grade Pay of Rs. 4200.

The Notification also directs that the appointment shall be considered only in the same Department where the deceased died in harness and incase the deceased was on deputation, the parent Department shall consider the appointment.
It further clarifies that the appointment cannot be claimed as a matter of right because its main motive is to provide immediate relief to the family members in distress.
The Notification reads, “When a family member of a deceased Government employee is already working under the Government, no other member of the family shall be considered of compassionate appointment.”
To verify whether any family member of the applicant is in Government service, the Notification has directed the concerned Department to constitute a Committee comprising of the Head of the Department/ Head of Office and any officer, ideally be an officer of the concerned section, where the deceased was serving.
Another responsibility of the committee will be to consider aspects like amount of family pension/ gratuity/ insurance/ property holding/ economic status of dependent while verifying the financial status of the family in distress.
The Notification also directs that Rule 4[4] of Sikkim Government Establishment Rules, 1974 shall apply in all such appointments as well.
The guidelines inform that applications for such appointments shall be considered only within a period of three years from the death of the Government servant.
Further, the committee should also be “fully satisfied” while recommending the admissible relaxation of minimum age of fourteen years/ educational qualification by giving two years time to acquire the required qualification etc.
In the event of mis-representation of facts, “The committee shall be held responsible,” the Notification warn.
Finally, it clarifies that category-wise Roster including 30% reservation for women shall be applied after Government’s approval of such appointment.