​Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Wednesday revised the conditions of the Compassionate Employment Scheme. 
Under the Scheme, dependents of State Government employees who die while in service are considered for employment assistance. 

Dependents of government employees who die while in service will be eligible for jobs, regardless of the circumstances of death under the scheme. This norm has been retained in the revised rules.

However, in the revised version, dependents of government servants who had to take retirement after debilitating mental or physical ailments and are receiving invalid pension, and who dies before the normal date of superannuation, will not be eligible. As it stands, they are.

Dependents of government servants who are allowed to continue in service beyond superannuation, either by extension of service or by re-employment, and who die after the normal date of retirement or superannuation will also not be eligible.

Dependants of teachers in government institutions, including college principals, will be eligible. But not the dependants of employees in aided institutions. Dependents of those who had taken voluntary retirement will also not be eligible.

A major reform is that the dependant should be at least 13 years old at the time of a government's servant's death. If the dependent is below 13 at the time of death, he/she will be automatically disqualified.

Order of priority
Widow/widower, son, daughter, adopted son, adopted daughter is the general order of priority for dependents. 

If the employee is unmarried, the order of priority will be: father, mother, unmarried sister, brother. In the existing version, the brother had to be unmarried to make the cut. However, if there is consensus among the dependents, the priority order can be reshuffled.

If the employee is divorced at the time of death, the order of priority will be: son, daughter, adopted son, adopted daughter.

​In case the divorced dead has no children, his/her father, mother, unmarried sister and brother will be in the priority list, provided they produce a certificate from the tahsildar testifying that they were the dependents of the deceased. 

Proof of dependence
A new condition is that if the chosen dependent is a married son or married daughter, he or she will have to produce a certificate from the tahsildar testifying that he or she was dependent on the deceased employee even after his/her marriage. 

Dependents other than the widow or widower should also get a no objection certificate from the widow or widower of the deceased employee. There will be no such requirement for a widow or widower.

Even if the deceased had remarried, children from earlier marriages will also be eligible. 

Dependents already in state or central government service, public sector units, banks, including cooperative banks, will be ineligible.

When to apply
If the dependent is 18 years or above, within three years of the death of the employee. If the dependent is below 18, within three years after the dependent attains 18. As it stands, it is two years for dependents who are already 18 years or above.

The General Administration (Services-D) Department will prepare and update a seniority list of eligible dependents. Job vacancies will be allocated based on this list, which will be updated as applications are received from various departments.