Court No. - 35
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 13356 of 2020 Petitioner :- Neeraj Katara Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Parvez Alam Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Salil Kumar Rai,J.
Heard the counsel for the petitioner.
The present writ petition has been filed challenging the order dated 22.10.2020 passed by the District Inspector of Schools, Agra refusing to pay the gratuity accruing in favour of the wife of the petitioner to the petitioner who died in 2019 while still in service.
The controversy involved in the present writ petition is squarely covered by the judgment and order dated 7.11.2019 passed by this Court in Writ - A No. 17399 of 2019 (Usha Rani Vs. State of U.P. & 6 Ors.) as well as the judgment and order dated 24.10.2019 passed by this Court in Writ - A No. 14397 of 2019 wherein this Court has affirmed the previous judgment of this Court passed in Noor Jahan Vs. State of U.P. & 4 Ors. (Writ - A No. 40568 of 2016) wherein the Court held that in view of the Government Order dated 16th September, 2009, an employee, who has not attained the age of 60 years, would also be entitled to gratuity if he is otherwise covered under the scheme formulated through the aforesaid Government Order. Clause 5 of the said Government Order provides that gratuity would be payable at the age of 60 years or upon death.
In the present case, it is admitted case that the wife of the petitioner died in 2019 while still in service. Consequently, in light of the judgments referred above, the petitioner is entitled to receive the gratuity accrued in favour of her wife.
The writ petition is allowed.
Consequently, the judgment and order dated 22.10.2020 passed by the District Inspector of Schools, Agra is, hereby, quashed.
The Finance & Account Officer, Secondary Education, Agra i.e., respondent no. 3 is directed to compute the amount payable to the petitioner towards gratuity in terms of the scheme formulated by the Government Order dated 16th September, 2009 and release the amount within a period of three months from the date a copy of this order is produced before him along with an interest at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of filing the application for gratuity till the amount is actually disbursed.
Order Date :- 8.1.2021 Satyam