Allahabad High Court
Smt. Mangari vs State Of U.P. And 4 Others on 9 August, 2023
Bench: Mahesh Chandra Tripathi, Prashant Kumar
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:161262-DB
Court No. - 40
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 22745 of 2023
Petitioner :- Smt. Mangari
Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Ramesh Chandra Pathak
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Mahesh Chandra Tripathi,J.
Hon'ble Prashant Kumar,J.
1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri Sharad Chandra Upadhyay, learned Standing Counsel.
2. Present writ petition has been preferred for following reliefs:-
"(i) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari to quash the impugned order dated 22.6.2022 passed by respondent no.3 (Annexure No.6 to this writ petition) to the extent of the case of the petitioner by which the respondent no.3 has rejected the claim of the amount of the insurance of Rs.5 lacs.
(ii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding and directing the respondent no.2 to 5 to pay the amount of insurance of Rs.5 lacs to the petitioner payable under the scheme "Mukhyamantri Krishak Durgathna Kalyan Yojana" as the husband of the petitioner has died due to some insect bite."
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that present matter is squarely covered by the judgment of this Court dated 29.4.2022 in Writ-C No.9000 of 2022 (Om Prakash v. State of U.P. & Ors.) and as such it is submitted that the petitioner being on similar footing is also entitled for similar indulgence. For ready reference, the operative portion of the judgment dated 29.4.2022 is quoted as under:-
".............18. According to learned Standing Counsel the testing of the viscera report itself shows that the venom which was found in the blood of the deceased was chemical poison only.
19. Learned Standing Counsel when confronted with the policy decision/clarification dated 08.07.2021 as referred to above could not dispute the same and had made a submission at bar that now in view of the policy decision dated 08.07.2021 the requirement of obtaining viscera report for the grant of monitory compensation/ex-gratia payment referable to death on account of snake bite stands dispensed with and what is to be seen is the fact that the panchnama as well as post mortem has been conducted or not.
20. Sri Sharad Srivastava, learned Standing Counsel has thus argued that in view of the letter of the Kanoongo addressed to the petitioner now the petitioner's claim will be processed and the same will not be denied or the benefits would not be denuded on the ground that the viscera report is either not available or not in favour of the petitioner.
21. Be that as it may be, in view of the arguments so sought to be advanced by the rival parties and further the fact that the learned Standing Counsel has not disputed the existence and the applications of the policy decision/clarification dated 08.07.2021 that the requirement of obtaining viscera report stands dispensed with, the present writ petition is being allowed in the following terms:-
(A) Petitioner within a period of one month from today shall prefer a representation before the respondent no.2, District Magistrate, Etah alongwith the certified copy of the order so passed today annexing with complete documents in support of his claim.
(B) The respondent no.2, District Magistrate, Etah, on receipt of the representation so preferred by the petitioner, shall decide the claim of the petitioner within a further period of one month for grant of compensation/ex-gratia payment to the tune of Rs.4,00,000/- without insisting for the requirement of viscera report in the light of the observation made herein above."
4. So far as the factual and legal aspect of the matter is concerned, the same is not disputed by learned Standing Counsel.
5. In the facts and circumstances, the writ petition is disposed of with direction to the District Magistrate, Basti (respondent no.2) to decide the claim of the petitioners in the light of judgement of this Court in Om Prakash (supra) within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order.
Order Date :- 9.8.2023
SP/
