The Kerala High Court on Wednesday set aside a school manager’s decision denying compassionate appointment to a 51-year-old widow solely because she remarried. The ruling came from Justice N. Nagaresh, who heard the writ petition filed by Mini R.K. the wife of a deceased government-aided school teacher who had been waiting nearly eight years for an eligible vacancy to open.
Inside Court Hall No. 4, the atmosphere was steady but tense. Mini sat quietly with her lawyers as the judge read out portions of the order, occasionally pausing to underline the “statutory character” of Rule 51B under the Kerala Education Rules (KER).
Background
Mini’s husband, Mohnasundaram K.P., was a High School Assistant at Karimbil High School in Kasaragod. His sudden death in August 2017 left Mini without children and without any real financial support. She applied for compassionate appointment the same year, invoking Rule 51B, which mandates school managers to give employment to dependents of teachers who die in harness.
There was no suitable vacancy then, and Mini waited. When a post of office attendant finally arose in March 2024, she renewed her request. But instead of a posting order, she received a curt communication (Ext.P6) from the school manager claiming she had become ineligible after remarrying in 2018.
That reasoning did not sit well with the court. Mini’s counsel argued that the remarriage was not a luxury but a social necessity something the judge acknowledged candidly in the verdict.
Court’s Observations
Justice Nagaresh examined the matter through a practical lens. The bench stressed that Rule 51B creates a statutory, mandatory obligation on aided-school managers. Unlike government service, where compassionate appointment flows from policy orders that can be altered over time, appointments in aided schools are rooted in the statute itself.
“The bench observed, ‘Compassionate appointment to dependents of teachers in aided schools is a valuable statutory right, not merely an executive concession.’”
The school manager had relied on a government order barring remarried widows from compassionate postings. But the judge said such government instructions cannot override a statutory right that had already vested when the husband died and when the application was made.
On the remarriage issue, the court’s words carried a quiet empathy.
“The bench noted, ‘Marriage by itself does not disqualify the person from seeking compassionate appointment.’” This remark, the judge clarified, echoed a Supreme Court precedent in Shreejith v. Deputy Director (Education), also arising under the Kerala Education Rules.
The court pointed out that Mini’s remarriage after a year while caring for an aged mother and dealing with her own vulnerability could not be treated as a “disqualification” capable of erasing her statutory entitlement.
Justice Nagaresh went further, hinting at the human realities behind the litigation: widowed women often face social and practical pressures that force them into difficult choices. Denying them rights for choosing survival, the court felt, would be unfair.
Decision
In the end, the High Court delivered a clear, unambiguous direction.
The judge set aside the school’s order that rejected Mini’s appointment and held that the manager had acted contrary to the law. The court concluded that denying her the benefit of Rule 51B after she waited years for the vacancy would be “a travesty of justice.”
The court ordered the school management and education authorities to appoint Mini R.K. to the existing vacancy or the next arising vacancy in the institution.
With that, the matter ended. Mini finally walked out of the courtroom with a faint but unmistakable sense of relief a legal right restored after a long, emotionally draining wait.
Case Title:- Mini R.K. v. State of Kerala & Others
Case Number: WP(C) No. 3451 of 2025