‘Illegitimate’ Son Is Also Entitled for a Job After Father’s Death: Chhattisgarh HC

The petition was filed by the son of the deceased's second wife, who had moved the court after a corporation rejected his application saying that he had not filed a valid succession certificate.

New Delhi: The Chhattisgarh high court has held that an ‘illegitimate’ son is also entitled to be considered for a job appointment on compassionate grounds after the death of the father, the Times of India reported.

The petition was filed by Piyush Kumar Anchal, who had moved the court after Chhattisgarh State Warehousing Corporation rejected his application on the ground that he had not filed a valid succession certificate. However, in his petition, Piyush said that his mother’s name was recorded in the nomination form submitted by his father.

According to the petition, Mohan Lal Anchal, the petitioner’s father, worked as a junior assistant at the Pratappur branch of the warehousing corporation and died due to COVID-19 infection. Anchal moved the high court, saying that he was the son of Mohan’s second wife and hence, applied for a job appointment on compassionate grounds.

Suresh Kumar Anchal, the son of Mohan’s first wife, had also claimed compassionate appointment.

As per the TOI report, the high court said that a policy “cannot discriminate against a person only on the ground of descent by classifying children of the deceased employee as legitimate and illegitimate and recognising only the right of legitimate descendant”.

“Further, if the person is the son of the deceased government servant, even if he is an illegitimate son, he would be entitled to the consideration on compassionate grounds and cannot be denied consideration on the ground that he is illegitimate,” the court said.

The high court, therefore, asked the corporation to consider the applications of Piyush and Suresh for compassionate appointment and decide on merit within 45 days.

In July 2021, the Karnataka high court had delivered a similar judgment, saying that all children, irrespective of laws governing marriage of their parents, should be eligible for jobs on compassionate grounds.

In this case, K. Santosha, a resident of the Ramanagara region of Karnataka, was denied a compassionate job by Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited, following the death of his father, K. Kabbalaiah, on the grounds that he was born to the second wife of the employee.

The court had observed: “A child has no role to play in his/her birth. Hence, law should recognise the fact that there may be illegitimate parents, but no illegitimate children. Therefore, it is for the parliament to bring about uniformity in law vis-à-vis legitimacy of children.”

The court, therefore, quashed a KPTCL circular which said that a second wife or her children are not eligible for compassionate appointments “if a marriage has taken place during the subsistence of a first marriage.”

The Karnataka high court had relied on a 2019 Supreme Court judgment, which allowed grant of jobs on compassionate grounds to children from illegitimate marriages under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.