Court No. - 28
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 2334 of 2019 Petitioner :- Deepak Kumar Chaubey Respondent :- Central Bank Of India And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Ved Byas Mishra,Kripa Shankar Singh Counsel for Respondent :- Krishna Raj Singh Jadaun
Hon'ble Rohit Ranjan Agarwal,J.
Heard Shri Ved Byas Mishra, counsel for petitioner and Shri K.R. Singh Jadaun for the respondent/Bank.
With the consent of counsel for parties, the matter is being disposed of at the admission stage without inviting counter affidavit.
Father of petitioner, late Subindra Nath Chaubey died on 12.09.2013. He was an employee of Central Bank of India and was posted at Bunkar Market Branch, Varanasi. His widow Smt Satya Devi, mother of the petitioner immediately moved an application for compassionate appointment on 20.10.2013.
The Bank, by letter dated 08.07.2014, had required the petitioner to submit an application for ex gratia payment in the format so prescribed.
The mother of petitioner also died on 29.04.2015 and as such could not apply within time and he submitted an application on 29.12.2015. The bank is not considering the application for payment of ex gratia on the ground that it was not made within six months from the date of death of deceased.
In view of circular dated 16.06.2006, the Regional Manager, respondent No.2 had rejected the claim of petitioner, which the petitioner got to know through Right to Information Act.
Shri K.R. Singh Jadaun, counsel for the Bank submits that there is an admitted delay of more than 21 months in submitting, the application from the death of father of petitioner and his application cannot be considered for payment of ex gratia. He has also further relied upon the circular of the Bank dated 16.06.2006, which provides for ex gratia payment provided application is made within six months.
Per contra, Shri Ved Byas Mishra, counsel for petitioner submits that immediately after the death of Subindra Nath Chaubey, his widow Smt. Satya Devi moved an application on 20.10.2013. As such the application was within time and further the required application in the format was submitted by petitioner on 29.12.2015. Further he has placed reliance upon a Division Bench judgment in Writ A No.17486 of 2019 in which the application for ex gratia payment was moved after more than three months and the Court directed for payment of ex gratia amount.
Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, I find that the application of mother of petitioner was well within time, but it was not in proper format as was required by the Bank. Petitioner after the death of his mother had applied in the format as required by the Bank. The Division Bench had held that object of providing ex gratia payment is to help the dependents of the deceased so as to tide over the financial crisis faced on the death of sole bread earner of family. The bank is not supposed to raise technical plea in awarding such amount.
In view of the above, objection raised by the Bank is turned down and the bank is directed to award the ex gratia payment to the petitioner.
It is expected that the said exercise shall be completed by the bank within four months from the date of production of a certified copy of this order.
The writ petition stands allowed. Order Date :- 28.2.2019 A.N. Mishra