Supreme Court imposed Penalty on BSNL for filing Plea against Compassionate Appointment

The Supreme Court has imposed a penalty of ₹1 lakh on Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for filing a frivolous petition against granting a compassionate appointment to a man whose parents had died while in service.

The parents of a man had died while in service at BSNL. The man requested BSNL to provide compassionate appointment but BSNL denied the appointment. The man filed case in the court which ruled in his favour.

BSNL challenged an order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which had upheld a ruling of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) granting the man a Group-D level job on compassionate grounds.

The BSNL Circle Assessment Committee awarded the applicant 74 points, qualifying him for the job. However, the Circle High Power Committee (HPC) later reduced his score to 54 points—just below the eligibility benchmark of 55—leading to the rejection of his application.

One major reason for the deduction was that he was not living in a rented house, which would have earned him 10 points under the “accommodation” category. Instead, he was living in a temporary slum dwelling (jhuggi), which the HPC said did not qualify for the points.

The CAT disagreed, ruling that living in a jhuggi clearly showed poor living conditions and should not have led to a loss of points. The Madhya Pradesh High Court upheld this view, and now the Supreme Court has also done the same.

A bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and SVN Bhatti expressed surprise that BSNL had even brought such a case to the Supreme Court, given that the law on compassionate appointments for legal heirs of deceased employees is well-settled. The Court called the petition frivolous and was also shocked that a government organisation has filed such a plea.

Supreme Court also said that BSNL can recover ₹1 lakh penalty from officer who recommended filing such a petition.

The Court also made it clear that as a government-owned entity, BSNL should not be contesting legitimate compassionate appointments for the families of employees who die in service.

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