Woman can take dead dad’s job even if married: Bombay high court

The state government should grant jobs on compassionate grounds to women, who were single when they applied, after their father’s demise and it shouldn’t take into account their marital status at the actual time of allotment of the job, the Bombay high court said.

A division bench of justice AM Khanwilkar and justice MR Bhatkar, while partially allowing the plea made by one Aparna Zambre, directed the state to reconsider her for the job assuming she was single when she applied in 2004.

Zambre’s father Mohan Kulkarni used to work as an engineer at the Krishna Koyna Upsatsinchan Project. After his demise on September 8, 2003, she applied for the job next year.

In 2007, the collector of Sangli directed her to submit necessary documents to prove her relation and qualification.

After going through them, the collector, based on the government resolution passed on August 26, 1994, rejected her application.

The resolution states that a daughter of a deceased state employee has to be ‘single’ to qualify for the job. Zambre was married by the time of the job allotment and failed to secure it. 

Additional government pleader Abhinandan Vagyani had argued, “She couldn’t qualify as per the GR. Moreover, the girl is now living with her husband and in-laws; the job benefit wouldn’t be passed on to the deceased’s kin.”

Also, he said, the deceased family has been getting his pension funds and thus there was no requirement to grant her the job.

Citing several judgments of the Supreme Court and other high courts, the bench noted, “Every person has the right to life under the constitution, and as per that, Zambre had got married for a better life.

But at the time of her application she was single and by that logic she was eligible for the job.”