Compassionate employment: A mother’s tears and a govt employee's fight fueled Kerala to tweak norms
Alappuzha: The Kerala cabinet has decided to withhold 25% of the basic salary of government employees if they are found to be neglecting their dependents after being appointed on compassionate grounds. Behind the implementation of this rule lie the tears of a deserted mother and the struggles of an ordinary forest department employee Chandra Das.
The grieving mother first came before Alappuzha native Das in 2018, when he was working as a senior clerk in the forest department. She told him how after her husband’s death, her son had been granted an appointment on compassionate grounds. However, after marriage, the son and daughter-in-law drove the mother out.
She had nowhere to go and no one to protect her. Chandra Das was moved to hear the mother’s words and took it upon himself to get her the justice she deserved. Das demanded that written consent (undertaking) must be procured from the dependent who is offered a death-in-harness appointment.
He solely drew up a draft law demanding the same and submitted it before the then Alappuzha collector T.V Anupama. In February 2018, the government approved the ordinance and passed the order.
It is only after this that Das began thinking about what could be done if this order is violated. That is how he came up with the condition that 20% of the order-violating employee's salary should be withheld and later dispersed to the abandoned dependents.
Despite retiring as a Revenue Inspector in 2021, Das did not deter in his struggle. Finally, in April 2022, the Chief Minister intervened and directed the preparation of a draft. Although the draft was submitted, there was no action for over a year.
In April 2023, the Chief Minister signed the file and presented it before the cabinet with the direction that 25% of the salary should be withheld.
It took five long years for the mother’s tears to be seen and Chandra Das’s struggles heard. But finally, justice has been served.