CHAUHAN, J. - (1.) The instant writ petition has been filed for seeking employment on compassionate ground under the Rajasthan Compassionate Appointment of Dependants of Deceased Government Servants Rules, 1996 (for short, "the Rules, 1996").
(2.) The facts and circumstances giving rise to this case are that petitioner's father died in harness on 23/4/1994 while working as Class IV employee in the Co-operative Department and as the petitioner was minor at that time, after passing Middle Standard Examination in the month of April, 1997, he applied for employment on compassionate ground under the said Rules of 1996 by submitting an application on 19.5.97. However, after correspondence at different levels in the Department, the application was rejected vide order dated 25.3.98 (Annex. 4) on the ground that he was below 18 years of age and was not eligible for appointment. The petition has been filed on the ground that under certain Circulars issued by the Competent Authority, a person is eligible for employment at the age of 16 years in special circumstances and petitioner could not have been denied employment on this ground.
(3.) When this Court raised the issue: whether compassionate employment can be claimed at such a belated stage, it was pointed out that the Old Rules, i.e. the Rajasthan Recruitment of the Dependants of Deceased Government Servant Dying while in Service Rules, 1975 (for short, "the Rules, 1975"), provided that a dependant of deceased employee may apply for employment on compassionate ground after attaining the majority and initially the Rules, 1996 did not contain any such analogous provision but the said Rules of 1996 stood amended by the State Government vide Notification dated 19.4.99 (Annex.9). Para 4 of the said Notification provides the amendment of rule 10 of the Rules, 1996, by which in Sub-rule (3) of rule 10, the period for submitting the application has been fixed as three months instead of forty-five days. It also provides for furnishing the details of income of other family members from all sources. It further reads as under:- "In case the husband or wife, as the case may be, is not willing for employment and the eldest of the dependants has not attained the age of 18 years, the information to this effect may be furnished to the Head of the Department within the period of three months from the date of the death of the employee and the limitation of applying for service of three months shall be counted from the date of attaining the age of 18 years.";