The single judge bench of the Jharkhand High Court held that pension is not a bounty to be given to the employees at the sweet will of the respondents. It is their right to receive pension.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that as per the Petitioner her husband was appointed as a Deputy Collector through Bihar Public Service Commission. After working for several year, he was superannuated from the district of Pakur as an Executive Magistrate. Later on, he died, however, pensionary benefits still have not been extended to the Petitioner. The present writ application is filed to direct the respondent to pay the gratuity, leave encashment, arrears of pension, and family pension to the petitioner to which she is entitled on account of death of her husband.
Contentions of the Petitioner
The Petitioner submitted that the service of the Petitioner is not in dispute and the same is admitted by the Respondent. It was furthermore submitted that after the death of the husband of the Petitioner, neither death-cum-retiral benefits nor pensionary benefits like family pension have been extended to the petitioner who is the widow of the deceased husband.
Contentions of the State
The state submitted that as the records are not available, the finalization of the pension could not be done.
Observations of the court
The Hon’ble court observed that Pensions are not a bounty that should be granted to employees at the respondents' whim. They have the right to a pension.
The court holds that the documents can’t be vanished. It is not a case of the respondents that the entire documents have been set on fire. They must be lying in the office of the respondents, as the respondents are custodians of the service records of the deceased employee.
Based on these considerations, the court was of the view that the court directed the Respondent to pay the entire amount as per entitlement to the petitioner.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court allowed the writ petition.
Case Title: Nilam Roy V. The State of Jharkhand
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice S.N. Pathak
Case No.: W.P.(S) No. 1873 of 2023
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. Rahul Kumar, Advocate
Advocate for the Respondent: Mr. Arun Kr. Dubey, AC to GP-III
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