Court No. - 38
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 5311 of 2019 Petitioner :- Smt. Nasira Begum Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Anand Kumar Singh Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Maneesh Kumar
Hon'ble Ashwani Kumar Mishra,J.
This petition has been filed for a direction to the respondents to pay death-cum-retiral benefits of late Mustaq Ahmad, including provident fund, gratuity, leave encashment, group insurance and other retiral benefits, together with interest. A further prayer has been made to command the respondents to decide petitioner's representation made in this regard on 12.2.2019.
A perusal of the record would reveal that Mustaq Ahmad was employed as 'Masalahi' in the L.L.R. Hospital, Kanpur. The employee concerned died on 3.9.2016. A death certificate in that regard has been annexed. Petitioner claims to be the wife of the deceased employee and has approached this Court with the grievance that though her entitlement to receive retiral benefits is undisputed yet the entire amount due has not been paid to her. Along with the writ petition, petitioner has annexed various documents including the photograph of the deceased employee with petitioner to show that they were husband and wife. In the nomination form for death-cum-retiral gratuity also name of petitioner is clearly recorded. Similarly in all other documents maintained in the office of the respondents, petitioner is shown as the wife of the deceased employee. It is also not disputed that the claim of the petitioner has been sustained and part of the amount has also been paid to her. It is with respect of certain balance amount that a dispute appears to have been raised on the ground that proceedings for issuance of succession certificate are pending. It is alleged by the respondents that the balance amount is not liable to be paid to the petitioner.
An impleadment application has been filed by one Reshma Bano, claiming herself to be the daughter of the deceased employee, born out of the wed-lock with the previous wife of the deceased employee namely Parveen Bano. Alongwith the impleadment application, transfer certificate from the educational institution has been produced in which the name of the student's father is mentioned as Mustaq Ahmad with employment as 'agriculture'. Various other documents have been annexed which would show that the succession proceedings instituted by the petitioner is being contested by the applicant seeking impleadment. Learned Counsel for the applicant, therefore, submits that so long as the issue is not resolved by the competent court, the disbursement of retiral benefits be withheld.
Claim of the applicant seeking impleadment is disputed by the counsel for the petitioner. It is stated that the applicant seeking impleadment is not the daughter of the deceased government servant.
From the records that have been produced before this Court, it is not in dispute that the writ petitioner is shown as the wife of the deceased employee in all service records. Part of the retiral benefits have also been paid to her. The nomination form for family pension, group insurance, death-cum-retirement gratuity etc. have all been annexed to show that the claim of petitioner of being the wife of the deceased government servant has remained undisputed.
From the records that have been placed before this Court, there is no basis for this Court to doubt the claim of the petitioner as being the wife of the deceased employee. The authorities of the State are required to release the retiral benefits to the wife of the deceased employee in accordance with the applicable rules. It is under the rules that the specific forms have been prescribed for nominating the person who is entitled to receive gratuity, group insurance and provident fund etc. Once the name of petitioner is shown in all such forms the respondents would not be justified in withholding release of further retiral benefits which are due and payable to petitioner.
So far as the claim of the applicant seeking impleadment is concerned, the only document apparently relied upon by her is a transfer certificate. In this certificate, the father of the student is shown to be the agriculturist, whereas, it is admitted that the husband of the petitioner was in employment. The claim of the petitioner is otherwise being seriously contested by the petitioner. The determination as to whether applicant seeking impleadment is the daughter of the deceased employee, requires leading of evidence and it would be open for the applicant seeking impleadment to institute appropriate civil proceedings for declaration of her status as being the daughter of the deceased employee. This Court need not make any observation with regard to claim of the applicant seeking impleadment. The status of the applicant seeking impleadment is not liable to be determined in the present proceedings, while leaving it open to her to approach the appropriate forum.
In view of the aforesaid discussions and deliberations, writ petition succeeds and is allowed. Direction is issued to the respondents to release all withheld retiral benefits due and payable to the deceased employee in favour of the present petitioner, within a period of six weeks from the date of presentation of certified copy of this order.
Order Date :- 31.7.2019 n.u.