SCHEME FOR
COMPASSIONATE APPOINTMENT IN PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS
(w.e.f.
5.8.2014 vide Ministry of Finance
D.O.F.No.18/2/2013-IR dated 7.8.2014)
1. COVERAGE
1.1. To a
dependent family member of permanent employee of a Public Sector Bank(PSB) who -
a) dies while in service (including death by suicide)
b) is retired on medical grounds due to incapacitation
before reaching the age of 55 years.
(incapacitation is to be certified by a duly appointed Medical Board in
a Government Medical College/Government District Head Quarters Hospitals/Panel
of Doctors nominated by the Bank for the purpose)
1.2. For the
purpose of the Scheme, “employee” would mean and include only a confirmed
regular employee who was serving full time or part-time on scale wages, at the
time of death/retirement on medical grounds, before reaching age of 55 years
and does not include any one engaged on contract/temporary/casual or any person
who is paid on commission basis.
2. DEPENDENT FAMILY MEMBER
2.1. Spouse; or
2.2. Wholly dependent son(including legally adopted
son); or
2.3. Wholly dependent daughter (including legally
adopted daughter); or
2.4. Wholly dependent brother or sister in the case of unmarried
employee
3. AUTHORITY COMPETENT TO MAKE COMPASSIONATE APPOINTMENT
3.1.
Chairman & Managing Director.
3.2.
Executive Director holding current charge of Chairman & Managing Director.
3.3.
Board of Directors in special types of cases.
3.4. While dealing with proposals for appointment on
compassionate grounds in otherwise eligible cases, where disciplinary action
was pending against the deceased employee/employee retired on medical grounds
or if the deceased employee was involved in serious financial irregularities,
embezzlement of funds, committing frauds, etc., banks will continue to abide by
the guidelines issued by the Government of India, requiring consideration and
decision in each case by the Board of the Bank/Authority appointed by the
Board.
4. POSTS TO WHICH APPOINTMENTS CAN BE MADE
4.1. The appointment shall be made in the clerical and sub-staff cadre only.
5. ELIGIBILITY
5.1. The family is indigent and deserves immediate
assistance for relief from financial destitution; and
5.2. Applicant for compassionate appointment
should be eligible and suitable for the post in all respects under the
provisions of the relevant Recruitment Rules.
6. EXEMPTIONS
6.1. Compassionate
Appointment under the Scheme are exempted from observance of the following
requirements:
6.1.1. Normal
Recruitment Procedure i.e., without the agency of selection like IBPS/Employment
Exchange, Recruitment Board of Bank, etc.
6.1.2. The ban
orders on filling up of posts issued by Government of India or any controlling
authority.
7. RELAXATIONS
7.1. Upper age
limit could be relaxed wherever found to be necessary. The lower age limit should, however, in no
case be relaxed below 18 years of age.
(Note-1: Age eligibility shall be determined with reference to
the date of application and not the date of appointment;
Note-2: Authority competent to take a final decision for
making compassionate appointment in a case shall be competent to grant
relaxation of age limit also for making such appointment).
8.
TIME LIMIT
FOR CONSIDERING APPLICATIONS
8.1.
Application for employment under the Scheme from
eligible dependent should normally be considered upto five years from the date
of death or retirement on medical grounds and decision to be taken on merit in
each case.
8.2.
However, Bank can consider request for compassionate
appointment even when the death or retirement on medical grounds of the
employee took place long back, even five years ago. While considering such belated requests, it
should, however, be kept in view that the concept of compassionate appointment
is largely related to the need for immediate assistance to the family of the
employee in order to relieve it from economic distress. The very fact that the family has been able
to manage somehow all these years should normally be taken as adequate proof
that the family had some dependable means of subsistence. Therefore, examination of such cases would
call for a great deal of circumspection.
The decision to make appointment
on compassionate grounds in such cases may, therefore, be taken only at the Board
level.
9.
DETERMINATION/AVAILABILITY
OF VACANCIES
9.1.
Appointment on compassionate grounds should be made
only on regular basis and that too, only if regular vacancies meant for that
purpose are available.
9.2.
Compassionate appointment can be made upto a maximum
of 5% of vacancies falling under direct recruitment quota in clerical cadre or
vacancies identified in the sub-staff category.
The Bank may hold back 5% of vacancies in the aforesaid categories to be
filled by appointment on compassionate grounds.
A person selected for appointment on compassionate grounds should be
adjusted in the recruitment roster against appropriate category, viz.,
SC/ST/OBC/General Category, depending upon the category to which he/she
belongs.
9.3.
Widow appointed on compassionate ground upon
re-marriage will be allowed to continue in service, even after re-marriage.
10. WHERE THERE IS AN EARNING MEMBER
10.1. In deserving
cases, even when there is already an earning member in the family, a dependent
family member may be considered for compassionate appointment with the prior
approval of the competent authority of the bank who, before approving such
appointment, will satisfy himself that grant of compassionate appointment is
justified, having regard to the number of dependents, assets and liabilities
left by the employee, income of the earning member as also his liabilities including the fact
that the earning member is residing with the family of the employee and whether
he should not be a source of support to other members of the family.
10.2. In cases
where any member of the family of the deceased or medically retired employee is
already in employment and is not supporting the other members of the family of
the deceased employee, extreme caution has to be observed in ascertaining the
economic distress of the members of the family of the deceased employee so that,
the facility of appointment on compassionate ground is not circumvented and
misused by putting forward the ground that the member of the family already
employed is not supporting the family.
11. MISSING EMPLOYEE
Cases of missing employees are also covered under the
scheme for compassionate appointment subject to the following conditions:-
11.1. A request to grant the
benefit of compassionate appointment can be considered only after a lapse of at
least 2 years from the date from which the Employee has been missing, provided
that:
(i)
an
FIR to this effect has been lodged with the Police,
(ii)
the
missing person is not traceable, and
(iii)
the
competent authority feels that the case is genuine;
11.2.
This
benefit will not be applicable to the case of an Employee:-
(i)
who
had less than two years to retire on the date from which he has been missing;
or
(ii)
who
is suspected to have committed fraud, or suspected to have joined any terrorist
organisation or suspected to have gone abroad.
11.3.
Compassionate
appointment in the case of a missing employee also would not be a matter of
right as in the case of others and it will be subject to fulfilment of all the
conditions, including the availability of vacancy, laid down for such
appointment under the scheme;
11.4.
While
considering such a request, the results of the Police investigation should also
be taken into account; and
11.5.
A
decision on any such request for compassionate appointment should be taken only
at the level of the Chairman & Managing Director of the Bank.”
12. PROCEDURE
a)
The prescribed proforma may be used by the bank for
ascertaining necessary information and processing the cases of compassionate
appointment.
b)
The Officer from the Staff Welfare Department of the
Bank should meet the members of the family of the employee in question
immediately after his death to advise and assist to them in getting appointment
on compassionate ground. The applicant
should be called in person at the very first stage and advised in person about
the requirements and formalities to be completed by him/her.
c)
An application for appointment on compassionate ground
should be considered by the Committee of officers consisting of three officers;
one Chairman and two members in the rank of Deputy General Manager/Assistant General
Managers. The Officer from the staff
welfare department may also be made one of the members of the Committee,
depending upon his rank. The Committee
may meet during the second week of every month to consider cases received
during the previous month. The applicant
may also be granted personal hearing by the committee, if necessary, for better
appreciation of facts of the case. The
recommendation of the committee should be placed before the Competent Authority
for a decision. If the Competent
Authority disagrees with the committee’s recommendation, the case may be
referred to the higher authority for a decision.
13. UNDERTAKING FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE FAMILY OF THE
DECEASED EMPLOYEE
The person appointed on compassionate grounds under the Scheme, should
give an undertaking in writing (as in
Annexure) that he/she will maintain properly the other family members who
were dependent on the deceased employee in question, and in case it is proved
subsequently (at any time) that the family members are being neglected or are
not maintained properly by him/her, his or her appointment may be terminated
forthwith. This clause should be
incorporated as one of the conditions in the offer of appointment applicable
only in the case of appointment on compassionate ground.
14. REQUEST
FOR CHANGE IN POST/PERSON
When a person has been appointed on compassionate ground to a particular
post, the set of circumstances, which led to such appointment should be deemed
to have ceased to exist. Therefore –
a) He/she should strive in his/her career like
his/her colleagues for future advancement and any request for appointment to
any higher post on considerations of compassion should invariably be rejected.
b) An
appointment on compassionate ground cannot be transferred to any other person
and any request for the same on consideration of compassion should invariably
be rejected.
15. SENIORITY
A person appointed on compassionate ground in a particular year may be
placed at the bottom of all the candidates recruited/appointed through direct
recruitment, promotion, etc. in that year, irrespective of the date of joining
of the candidate on compassionate ground.
16. TERMINATION
OF SERVICE
The compassionate appointment can be terminated on the ground of
non-compliance of any condition stated in the offer of appointment after
providing an opportunity to the compassionate appointee by way of issue of show
cause notice asking him/her to explain why his/her services should not be
terminated for non-compliance of the condition(s) in the offer of appointment
and it is not necessary to follow the procedure prescribed in the Disciplinary
Action and Procedure therefor.
In order to check its misuse, the power of termination of service for
non-compliance of the conditions in the offer of compassionate appointment
should vest only with the CMD of the Bank.
17. GENERAL
i) Appointment
made on grounds of compassion should be done in such a way that persons
appointed to the post do have the essential educational and technical
qualifications and experience required for the post consistent with the
requirement of maintenance of efficiency of administration.
ii) It is not the
intention to restrict employment of a family member of the deceased or
medically retired sub-staff employee to an erstwhile sub-staff post only. As
such, a family member of such erstwhile sub-staff employee can be appointed to
a clerical post for which he/she is educationally qualified, provided a vacancy
in clerical post exists for this purpose.
iii) An
application for compassionate appointment should, however, not be rejected
merely on the ground that the family of the employee has received the benefits
under the various welfare schemes. While
considering a request for appointment on compassionate ground a balanced and
objective assessment of the financial condition of the family has to be made
taking into account its assets and liabilities (including the benefits received
under the various welfare schemes mentioned above) and all other relevant
factors such as the presence of an earning member, size of the family etc.
iv) Compassionate
appointment should be made available to the person concerned if there is a
vacancy meant for compassionate appointment and he or she is found eligible and
suitable under the scheme.
v) Requests for
compassionate appointment consequent on death or retirement on medical grounds
of erstwhile sub-staff may be considered with greater sympathy by applying
relaxed standards depending on the facts and circumstances of the case.
vi) Compassionate
appointment will have precedence over absorption of surplus employees and
regularization of temporary employees.