The Allahabad High Court threw out a plea lodged by Chanchal Sonkar, seeking a compassionate appointment after her husband died on November 17, 2022, as the State Bank of India denied the same. Further the Court stressed that “compassionate appointments” being humanitarian exceptions were in the nature of stop gap arrangement to sustain the dependent family in the poignant interim. To qualify under SBI’s 2022 Scheme, dependent’s monthly income has to be less than half of the deceased’s last gross salary if he has a spouse and/or one child; 60% otherwise. Total family income calculated by Sonkar i.e. terminal benefits, the investments, the notional interest and the pension was ₹99,555.71 which was over 75% of the last gross pay of ₹1,18,800.14 of her deceased husband as also the minimum prescribed. The Court ruled that compassionate appointment is not a fundamental right and it should follow statutory parameters and expressed apprehension that liberal construction of the same can be violative of Articles 14, 15 and 16. Citing precedents from the Supreme Court (Umesh Kumar Nagpal v. Haryana and Pushpendra Kumar v. Director of Education ) it upheld the decision of the Bank.