Jesmin Begum v. The Commissioner and Secy. to the Govt. of Assam and 5 Ors

ORDER 20-05-2024 Heard Mr. M. R. Khandakar, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Ms. N. Bordoloi, learned Standing Counsel, Revenue & Disaster Management Department for the respondent no. 1; Mr. B. Gogoi, learned Standing Counsel, Finance Department for the respondent No. 2. Mr. G. Bokalial, learned Government Advocate for the respondent nos. 3, 4, 5 & 6.

¶2By way of this writ petition, the petitioner is seeking ex-gratia grant of Rs. 2 Lakh in terms of the notification dated 15.11.2014 on the ground that the husband of the petitioner expired due to an accident.

¶3The case of the petitioner is that on 02.03.2022 at about 7:30 a.m., the husband of the petitioner was forcefully knocked by a vehicle, at No. 1 Page No.# 3/6 Katahbari Masjid Road, while he was coming towards his home for which he died.

¶4The police report dated 19.03.2022 also reveals that the petitioner's deceased husband died due to a road accident on 02.03.2022.

¶5As such the petitioner being the wife is entitled for getting the ex-gratia grant of Rs.2 lakhs as per Govt. notification dtd. 15.11.2014 but till date the same had not been paid to the petitioner. Hence, this writ petition is filed for appropriate relief.

¶6I have heard the learned counsels at length and perused the materials available on record.

¶7Mr. Bokalial, the learned Government Advocate fairly submits that the instant case is covered by the notification dated 15.11.2014 for granting ex gratia compensation to the petitioner, whose husband was died due to an accident in the public place. The relevant portion of the notification dated

15.11.2014 reads as:- Sl. No. Nature of Incident Quantum of relief

¶3Ex-gratia to the NOK of person killed due to acceding in public places or in public carriers (other than killed by extremist/terrorist/miscreants and due to the firing of security force) Rs.2,00,000.00

¶8A perusal of the serial No. 3 of the aforesaid notification abundantly reveals that the petitioner's husband, who was knocked by a vehicle to death in the Page No.# 4/6 public road, is entitled to the compensation of Rs. 2 Lakh.

¶9Further the decision of this Court in the case of Lakshi Das vs. Gyanendra Dev Triparthi reported in 2023 2 GauLT 850 clearly covers the issue in hand. Para Nos.10, 15, 19, 20, 21 of the aforesaid judgment is extracted hereunder for ready reference as follows:-"10. The only consideration that the respondent authorities are required to undertake upon such claim for ex-gratia payment being made on account of death caused to a person in a motor accident is-

(i) Whether the accident as per the records had actually taken place;

(ii) Whether the person for whose death the ex-gratia is claimed was actually involved in such motor accident and due to such accident death was caused to the person concerned;

(iii) Whether the person claiming ex-gratia is in fact the next of kin of the person who had died in the motor accident and the person concerned is otherwise entitled to the payment to the exclusion of all others, who also may have similar claim, in other words, there has to be a determination on the class of legal heirs of the deceased who may have made the claim; and

(iv) Whether the payment of ex-gratia in respect of the death caused to the person concerned in a motor accident had not been earlier claimed and paid to any other person. Upon determination by the authorities, if the aforesaid four conditions are held to be in favour of the claimant, we see no reason why under the law, the ex-gratia payment of Rs. 2,00,000/- would not be paid to the person claiming such ex-gratia. If for any reason the authorities are of the view that the person claiming for the ex-gratia payment would not be entitled to such payment because of not satisfying any of the four conditions, or any other conditions as may be applicable, it is for the authorities to pass a reasoned order on the same indicating the result of such examination.

¶15On the other hand, the expressions 'ex-gratia' and 'ex-gratia payment' are defined as extracted:- Page No.# 5/6 "Ex-gratia-As a favour, not legally necessary. Ex-gratia payment-A payment not legally required; esp., an insurance payment not required to be made under an insurance policy."

¶19Ex-gratia payment under the law is a payment made as a favour in a circumstance where there is no legal necessity to make any such payment. A payment by one person causing damage or injury to another person by means of a compensation is a payment which is not made as a favour, but it is a payment which is a legal necessity under the law whereas an ex-gratia payment is a payment which is made as a favour and without any legal necessity.

¶20On the basis of the contrasting legal meaning of the two different modes of payment i.e. a payment as compensation and the payment as an ex-gratia, we have to understand that a payment that may be made as an ex-gratia simpliciter cannot be included to be within the concept of being a payment as compensation.

¶21In view of the above conclusion, we are of the view that the question that has been raised as to whether the payment of ex-gratia to be made under the notification dated 15.11.2014 has to be returned back to the insurer upon an actual compensation being made under either the Act of 1988 or any other law or otherwise, would have to be answered that the payment of ex-gratia which admittedly is made as a favour and without any legal necessity would not have to be returned either by the beneficiary or by the State authorities to the insurer under section 163 (1) of the Act of 1988 upon an actual payment of compensation being made to the victim of a motor accident in either under the provisions of the Act of 1988 or under any other law or otherwise."

¶10In view of the above, it appears that the petitioner has made out a case for grant of ex-gratia compensation. Accordingly, in the interest of justice, this Court directs the respondents to pay the ex-gratia amount of Rs. 2 Lakh upon proper verification in terms of the notification dated 15.11.2014 to the petitioner within a period of two months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. Page No.# 6/6

¶11With the aforesaid observation and direction, this writ petition stands disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/6 GAHC010173042022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/5663/2022o JESMINoBEGUMo W/O.oLT.oNURoALI,oR/O.oKATAHBARIoNIZARAPAR,oNO.1oMASJIDoROAD,oP.O.o ANDoP.S.oGORCHUK,oDIST.oKAMRUPo(M),oASSAM,oPIN-781035. VERSUSo THEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECY.oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAMoANDo5oORS.o REVENUEoANDoDISASTERoMANAGEMENToDEPTT.,oRELIEFoANDo REHABILITATIONoBRANCH,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI-06. 2:THEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECY. oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oFINANCEoDEPTT. oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-06. 3:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oKAMRUPo(M) oGUWAHATI oDIST.oKAMRUPo(M) oASSAM oPIN-781001. 4:THEoSUPDT.oOFoPOLICE oKAMRUPo(M) oGUWAHATI oDIST.oKAMRUPo(M) oASSAM oPIN-781001. Page No.# 2/6 5:THE OFFICER IN CHARGE OF GORCHUK POLICE STATION P.O. AND P.S. GORCHUK DIST. KAMRUP (M) ASSAM PIN-781035. 6:THE CIRCLE OFFICER GUWAHATI REVENUE CIRCLE GUWAHATI P.O. PANBAZAR DIST. KAMRUP (M) ASSAM PIN-781001 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. M R KHANDAKAR Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KAUSHIK GOSWAMI