Mon Oct 06 05:50:00 UTC 2025: ## Telangana High Court Denies Compassionate Appointment to Widow of Part-Time Employee
**Hyderabad, India** – The Telangana High Court has overturned a lower court ruling, denying a compassionate appointment to the widow of a part-time school employee. The court ruled that part-time workers cannot be considered to have “died in harness” in the same way as regular employees, thus upholding the zilla parishad’s decision to deny the appointment.
The case stemmed from a writ appeal filed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the zilla parishad in Vikarabad district against B. Kistamma, whose husband, Ramachandraiah, passed away in 2016 while working as a part-time employee at a primary school.
A lower court had previously granted Kistamma’s petition for compassionate appointment, arguing that her husband’s services should have been regularized. However, the High Court division bench, comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin, found fault with this decision.
The Zilla Parishad CEO had originally rejected Kistamma’s claim in 2016, citing that her husband, appointed as a part-time worker in 1986, had not completed the required ten years of continuous service before the cutoff date for regularization in 1993, as per government orders.
The High Court emphasized that Ramachandraiah did not meet the eligibility criteria for regularization, stating, “The claim of respondent No.1 for compassionate appointment could not be considered as her husband, the part-time worker, could not be treated as died in harness as a regular employee.”
The court further stated that the lower court erred by granting relief without Kistamma first challenging the initial rejection order from the Zilla Parishad. Consequently, the High Court set aside the lower court’s order, upholding the Zilla Parishad’s decision.
This ruling highlights the distinction between the rights and benefits afforded to regular employees versus part-time workers in Telangana, particularly in the context of compassionate appointments.
**Rahul V. Pisharody, Assistant Editor with the Indian Express Online, reported this story from the Telangana High Court.**
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