Puja Harijan and 2 Ors v. The Union of India and 7 Ors

ORDER Date : 26-05-2023 Heard Mr. A.R. Medhi, the counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner. Mr. K.K. Paresar, the learned C.G.C. appears for the Central Government and Mr. R. Konwar, the learned counsel appears for the respondent No. 8.

¶2The petitioners herein are the son and daughters of Jwaharlal Harijan (since deceased). Late Jwaharlal Harijan expired on 28/6/2014 while on duty. Upon the death of the father of the petitioner No. 1, Puja Harijan was enjoying the family pension as that relevant point of time she was an unmarried daughter and was below 25 years.

¶3Subsequent thereto, the respondent No. 8 who is the second wife of Late Jwaharlal Harijan approached the authority on 14th of January, 2021 claiming family pension. At that time the concerned respondent authorities stopped the family pension. It is also relevant to take note of that the petitioners herein along with the respondent No. 8 are also entitled to an amount of Rs. 10,58,698/- as has been admitted by the respondents in their affidavit filed on 28/10/2022 at paragraph No.

15.

¶3It has been brought to the attention of this Court that Rule 54 (7) (b) of the Central Civil Service(Pension) Rules, 1972 stipulates that when the deceased Government servant or pensioner is survived by a widow but has left behind eligible child or children from another wife who is not alive, the eligible child or children shall be entitled to the share of the family pension which her mother would have received if she had been alive at the time of the death of the Govt. servant or pensioner. In that view of the matter, the family pension has to be split on one half between the petitioner No. 2 and petitioner No. 3 till they are entitled to in terms with Rule 54 (6) Page No.# 4/4 of the said Rules of 1972 and the remaining 50% the respondent No. 8 would be entitled to. In similar vein, the amount of Rs. 10,58,698/- has also to be divided equally between the petitioners herein and the respondent No. 8 in the ratio of 50:50.

¶4Accordingly, this Court therefore disposes of the instant writ petition with a direction upon the respondent authorities, more particularly the respondent Nos. 2, 3 and 6 to disburse the family pension including the arrears in the family pension in the ratio of 50:50 between the petitioner Nos. 2 and 3 on one hand and the respondent No. 8 on the other hand. The said respondents are further directed to pay 50% of the amount of Rs.10,58,698/- to the petitioners and the remaining 50% of the said amount to the respondent No. 8. The same should be done within a period of two months from the date a certified copy of this order is served upon the respondent Nos. 2, 3 and 6. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010138702021 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/4769/2021o PUJAoHARIJANoANDo2oORSo D/OoLATEoJWAHARLALoHARIJAN,oR/OoUTTARoBARSIRAL,oP.S.-BARAMA,o P.O.-DHAMDHAMA,oDIST-BAKSA,oASSAM,oPIN-781349 2:oMANIKAoHARIJAN oD/OoLATEoJWAHARLALoHARIJAN oR/OoUTTARoBARSIRAL oP.S.-BARAMA oP.O.-DHAMDHAMA oDIST-BAKSA oASSAM oPIN-781349 3:oBISHNUoHARIJAN oS/OoLATEoJWAHARLALoHARIJAN oR/OoUTTARoBARSIRAL oP.S.-BARAMA oP.O.-DHAMDHAMA oDIST-BAKSA oASSAM oPIN-781349o(MINORo VERSUSo THEoUNIONoOFoINDIAoANDo7oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoDIRECTORoGENERALoOFoBORDERoROADS,oSEEMAo SADAKoBHAWAN,oRINGoROAD,oDELHIoCANTT.,oNEWoDELHI,oPIN-110010 2:THEoPRINCIPALoCONTROLLERoOFoDEFENCEoACCOUNTSo(PENSIONS) oALLAHABAD oDRAUPADIoGHAT oNEAR oSADARoBAZAR oPRAGYARAJ Page No.# 2/4 UTTAR PRADESH PIN-211014 3:THE PAY ACCOUNTS OFFICE (GREF) GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE (MOD) CARE GREF CENTRE AD WING DIGHI CAMP PUNE PIN-411015 4:THE HEAD OFFICE OF (EIP) ARUNANIE C/O 99 APO 5:THE HEAD OFFICE 23 BRIF C/O 99 APO PIN-930023 6:OFFICER COMMANDING 465 RMPL DAPORIJO ARUNACHAL PRADESH 77 RCC (GREF) C/O 99 APO PIN-930077 7:ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (CIVIL) OFFICE COMMANDING 55 RCC (GENERAL RESERVE ENGINEER FORCE) 8:ARATI RABI DAS SANJADI P.O.-JANIADI P.S.-HAZO DIST- KAMRUP(R) ASSAM PIN-78110 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. A R MEDHI Advocate for the Respondent : ASSTT.S.G.I. Page No.# 3/4 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVASHIS BARUAH