Court No. - 35
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 10479 of 2020 Petitioner :- Taravati Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 5 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Kamal Kumar Kesherwani Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Amit Shukla
Hon'ble Salil Kumar Rai,J.
Heard the counsel for the parties.
The present writ petition has been filed praying for a writ of mandamus commanding the respondent - District Basic Education Officer, District Pilibhit to pay the gratuity accruing in favour of the wife of the petitioner to the petitioner who was working as Headmaster / Principal and died-in-harness in 2018.
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 pursuance to the previous order passed by this Court, the counsel for respondent no. 5 has received instructions and states that the gratuity cannot be paid to the petitioner because the husband of the petitioner did not opt for retirement at the age of 60 in accordance with the Government Order dated 16th September, 2009.
From the instructions received by the counsel for the respondent no. 5, it is apparent that it is the admitted case that the husband of the petitioner died in 2018 while still in service as Headmaster / Principal.
The writ petition is allowed.
The Additional Director, Treasury and Pension, Bareilly Region Bareilly, District Bareilly, District Basic Education Officer, District Pilibhit and Finance & Account Officer, (Basic Education), Pilibhit, i.e., respondent nos. 3, 5 and 6 are 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 read with the Government Order dated 23rd August, 2017 and release the amount within a period of three months from the date a copy of this order is produced before them 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 :- 13.1.2021 Satyam