Jamini Mohan Datta vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors
2022 Latest Caselaw 2060 Cal

19.04.2022
 SL No. 6
Court No. 24
   (P.M)
                In The High Court At Calcutta
               Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction
                       Appellate Side

                        WPA 9493 of 2016
                            with
                       IA No. CAN 1 of 2022

                     Jamini Mohan Datta
                               Vs
                 The State of West Bengal & Ors.


                              Ms. Bratati Dutta
                                          ... for the petitioner.

                              Mr. Amal Kr. Sen, A.G.P.
                              Ms. Ashima Das (Sil)
                                         .... For the State



                       The sole writ petitioner, Jamini Mohan

                Datta, expired on 27th August, 2020. His wife

                Shibani Datta has filed the instant application

                for substitution.

                       It has been submitted that she is the

                only   heir   and   legal   representative   of   the

                deceased writ petitioner.

                       It has further been submitted that the

                cause of action for filing the writ petition

                survives even on the death of the petitioner.

                       The applicant being the widow of the

                deceased teacher is entitled to the financial

                reliefs which the teacher ought to have been

                paid during his lifetime.
         2




       In view of the above, the application for

substitution stands allowed.

       CAN 1 of 2022 is disposed of.

       The issue to be decided in the present

writ petition is whether an employee will be

entitled to receive pension on and from the date

following retirement or from the date of refund

of the employer's share of contribution.

       The husband of the petitioner retired

from   service    on   attaining    the    age   of

superannuation on 30.03.2002 and he died on

27.08.2020

.

In response to the notification published

by the School Education Department being No.

79-SE(L)/SL/5S-56/13(Pt-V) dated 13th June,

2014 issued in compliance of the direction

passed by the Hon'ble Special Bench of this

Court in the judgment dated 16th July, 2013 in

the matter of District Inspector of Schools (S.E.),

Kolkata -vs- Abhijit Baidya the husband of the

petitioner exercised option to switch over from

CPF to GPF and refunded the employer's share

of contribution with interest and additional

interest on 08.09.2014.

Pension Payment Order was issued in

favour of the husband of the petitioner with

effect from the date of refund of the employer's

share of contribution.

The petitioner claims that pension ought

to have been released on and from the next date

of retirement of the husband of the petitioner

and not from the date of refund of the

employer's share of contribution.

A similar issue has been decided by this

Court in the matter of WPA No. 964 of 2022

(Sitala Mandal (Chaudhuri) -vs- State of West

Bengal & Ors.).

The judgment passed in the aforesaid

matter on 8th February, 2022 will cover the

present writ petition.

As the teacher died in the meantime

accordingly the revised pension payment order

is required to be issued in favour of the widow

of the deceased employee.

Instant writ petition is disposed of by

directing the Director of Pension, Provident

Fund and Group Insurance and the concerned

Treasury Officer to verify the records, and in the

event, it is found, that the husband of the

petitioner exercised option and refunded the

employer's share of contribution within the time

specified in the notification dated 13th June,

2014, then steps shall be taken to issue Revised

Pension Payment Order in favour of the

petitioner with effect from the date following the

date of retirement on superannuation and to

release the pension in accordance with the

Revised Pension Payment Order. Such steps

shall be taken within a period of twelve weeks

from the date of communication of a copy of this

order. Payment shall positively be released

immediately upon issuance of the Revised

Pension Payment Order.

The writ petition stands disposed of.

Urgent certified photo copy of this order,

if applied for, be supplied to the parties

expeditiously on compliance of usual legal

formalities.

(Amrita Sinha, J.)