SC: Death-in-service policy applies when medical retirement is approved posthumously—compassionate appointment to be reconsidered

Case Name: Munish Kumar v. State of Himachal Pradesh & Anr.
Citation: Civil Appeal No. 2426 of 2020 (arising out of SLP (C) No. 3502 of 2019)
Date of Judgment/Order: 19 May 2020
Bench: Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice Hemant Gupta, and Justice Ajay Rastogi

Held: If an employee’s request for retirement on medical grounds is approved after the employee has died, service cannot be treated as having ceased earlier so as to defeat the family’s claim. Such a case falls under the death-in-service category for compassionate appointment, not under the medical-retirement clause with age limits. The rejection based on the medical-retirement limb was unsustainable.

Summary: The appellant’s father died in service on 16 June 2004. His pending request for medical retirement was sanctioned the next day with purported retrospective effect. Relying on the “medical retirement” branch of the policy, authorities rejected the appellant’s plea for compassionate appointment on age-limit grounds. The Supreme Court held that a posthumous approval cannot retrospectively convert a death-in-service into a medical-retirement case; the policy’s object is to provide immediate relief to bereaved families, and technicalities cannot frustrate that purpose.

Decision: Rejection order set aside. The State must reconsider the application for compassionate appointment and convey a final decision within three months. If appointed, pay will accrue only from the date of joining; no arrears are payable.