HYDERABAD: Ending a 12-year legal battle, Telangana high court has ruled that a married daughter cannot be denied compassionate appointment solely because of her marital status, directing Telangana Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TGSPDCL) to provide a job to a woman whose application had been rejected on that ground.Justice EV Venugopal held that an otherwise eligible woman candidate cannot be excluded from consideration merely because she is married. The court directed the southern discom to grant compassionate appointment to Kumbam Jyothi of Nalgonda. Jyothi’s father, K Ramakrishna Reddy, an assistant lineman with the discom, died on June 4, 2014. Jyothi stated that after her father’s death, there was no earning member in the family and that both she and her husband were unemployed.However, the discom rejected her application on the ground that she was a married daughter and therefore ineligible under the applicable rules.During the hearing, counsel for Jyothi relied on Supreme Court judgments and argued that any classification discriminating between a son and a daughter was unconstitutional.Counsel for the discom, however, contended that compassionate appointment cannot be claimed as a matter of right and is subject to the organisation’s rules, eligibility criteria and availability of vacancies.Allowing the petition, the court directed TGSPDCL to issue orders granting compassionate appointment to Jyothi.
