‘Married daughters’ ineligible for availing benefits under Die-In-Harness scheme of State Government is discriminatory, rules Tripura HC
The Tripura High Court has held that ‘Married daughters’ ineligible for availing benefits under Die-In-Harness scheme of State Government is discriminatory.
Issue Raised
Many petitions were filed involving question pertaining to exclusion of married daughters from the die-in-harness scheme of the State Government.
Die-in-harness scheme
The very object of the die-in-harness scheme is to provide urgent relief to mitigate the hardships arising out of the death of the earning member of the family. Numerous situations can be contemplated where there may be none other than the married daughter to support the family of the deceased Government servant.
Such a situation having arisen, object of the die-in-harness scheme to relieve the family of the deceased Government servant of emergent financial crisis by providing compassionate appointment to an eligible member would be frustrated if the married daughter, who is otherwise eligible for such appointment, is kept beyond the purview of the scheme only on the basis of her marital status.
Judgement
The division bench of Justice S.G.Chattopadhyay and Justice Indrajeet Mahanthy held that marriage does not break the bond between a daughter and her parents as it does not between a son and his parents.
A crisis in the family of her parents equally worries a married daughter. As such, there is no rationale behind exclusion of a married daughter from the scheme. Therefore, a die-in-harness policy inasmuch as it operates as a disqualification in the case of a married woman, as against a married man must be held to be discriminatory and such policy, tested on the touchstone of Articles 14 to 16 of the Constitution, cannot be held to be valid.
Case Citation: WA No. 80 of 2020
