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(b) After the death of the petitioner's father, the petitioner applied for a Legal Heirship certificate, but the Village Administrative Officer (for short, 'the VAO') of Mettu Kosalai Village, without issuing the heirship certificate of his deceased father Vadivel, tried to project as if the said Vadivel was married to one Laxmi and as such, the said Laxmi was the widow of the said deceased Vadivel and fabricated documents to show as the heirs of the deceased Vadivel.
(c) While that being the position, the petitioner's mother filed a Writ Petition before this Court in W.P.No.1188 of 1996 for a direction to the respondents to issue the Legal Heirship Certificate and this Court directed the respondents therein to consider the representation of the petitioner therein and pass orders. However, the Tahsildar, Tiruvannamalai, passed the order on 22.5.1996, directing the petitioner to get the orders from the Civil Court by obtaining a succession certificate.
(vii) The application of the petitioner was rejected based on the Government instructions which were issued based on the observations and directions of the Supreme Court. The explanation of the petitioner is not acceptable in respect of the delay in making the application after 12 years, for the reason that though it took him time to obtain the Legal Heirship Certificate belatedly, he should have submitted his application requesting the appointment under compassionate grounds along with all the other documents including the heirship Certificate and he should have registered his name in time, but the petitioner has failed to do the same, within the prescribed time. The administration will not be held responsible and he has failed to submit his application in time and without procuring the Legal Heirship Certificate, the application could not be processed, as per the Government Orders and guidelines. The Supreme Court observed that the very purpose of giving compassionate appointment scheme is only to help the family of the deceased Government servant to tide over the sudden indigent circumstances unexpectedly happened when such application is made in time by the sudden and the death of the Government servant.

5. Mr.K.Shanmugakani, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, in his submissions, strenuously contended that immediately after the death of the petitioner's father, the petitioner applied for heirship Certificate, but the VAO of the concerned Village, dragged the matter and ultimately, a writ petition was filed by the petitioner's mother before this Court, and it is stated by the learned counsel for the petitioner that this Court in the said W.P., directed the authorities to consider the representation of the petitioner's mother, and only then, the Tahsildar concerned has directed the petitioner to approach the Civil Court for obtaining the succession certificate, which shows as if there was a dispute with regard to the heir status of the family. The Legal Heirship Certificate/Succession Certificate are basic documents for claiming the appointment on compassionate grounds and as there was delay in obtaining the same, the petitioner could not make his application for compassionate appointment immediately.

10. I have heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the records and the decisions relied on by the learned counsel for the petitioner and given thoughtful consideration to the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties.

11. A circumspection of facts reveals that the petitioner's father was a Class-IV employee in the second respondent-Tiruvannamalai Panchayat Union Office. He died in harness on 2.10.1995, leaving behind Smt.Boopathy--wife, two sons--Saravanan and Sampath (writ petitioner) and daughter--Vasanthi. Immediately after the death of the father of the petitioner, the petitioner applied for Legal Heirship Certificate to the VAO of Mettu Kosalai Village, but without issuing the Heirship Certificate, the VAO tried to project the case as if the deceased Vadivel (petitioner's father) was married to one Laxmi, and she is alleged to be the widow of the deceased Vadivel, and hence, the petitioner could not be issued with the Legal Heirship Certificate.