Durga Pathak vs The State Bank Of India Through Its ...
2021 Latest Caselaw 1487 Patna

          IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                    Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.11857 of 2017
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Durga Pathak Wife of Late Vijay Kant Pathak, Resident of 20/162, New Patliputra Colony, P.S.-Patliputra, District-Patna.

... ... Petitioner/s Versus

1. The State Bank of India through its Managing Director.

2. The Chief General Manager, State Bank of India, West Gandhi Maidan Patna.

3. The Deputy General Manager, State Bank of India, Bhagalpur.

4. The Branch Manager, Haati Branch, State Bank of India, Bhagalpur

... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s : Mr. J.S. Arora, Sr. Adv.

Mr.Manoj Kumar, Adv.

For the Respondent(SBI): Mr. S.D. Sanjay, Sr. Adv.

Mr.Anjani Kumar Mishra, Adv.

Mr. Ambarish Bhardwaj, Adv.

====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MOHIT KUMAR SHAH ORAL JUDGMENT Date : 17-03-2021

The present petition has been filed for directing the

respondent Bank and its authorities to make payment of the

entire death-cum- retiral benefits of the deceased husband of the

petitioner namely late Vijay Kumar Pathak who died in harness

on 22.01.1996, while working as Branch Manager at Haati

Branch of the State Bank of India, Bhagalpur.

2. The learned Senior counsel appearing for the

petitioner Shri J.S. Arora has submitted that the deceased

husband of the petitioner had joined the service of the Bank in

the month of April 1967 and he died in harness, being inflicted Patna High Court CWJC No.11857 of 2017 dt.17-03-2021

with cancer, on 22.01.1996, whereafter certain allegations of

defalcation were levelled against the deceased husband of the

petitioner and a money suit bearing Money Suit No. 113 of 1996

was filed by the respondent Bank before the learned court of

Sub-Ordinate Judge, Patna, inter-alia seeking relief therein to

the extent that it be declared that the deceased husband of the

petitioner had caused loss to the respondent Bank to the tune of

Rs.24, 32, 118/-, hence upon adjudication, a decree for recovery

of the aforesaid sum be passed in favour of the plaintiff i.e. the

respondent Bank. The learned senior counsel for the petitioner

has submitted that the aforesaid money suit has since stood

dismissed by a judgment dated 22.10.2016 passed by the

learned Sub-Ordinate Judge-II, Patna in Money Suit No. 113 of

1996 and the learned court below has held that the plaintiff i.e.

the respondents herein have not been able to prove that the

claimed amount of loss was caused to the Bank by the

fraudulent act of the deceased husband of the petitioner, hence,

the learned court below held that the respondent Bank is not

entitled to any relief in the said suit.

3. The learned Senior counsel for the petitioner has

thus submitted that the petitioner is not only liable to be paid

death-cum- retiral dues of her deceased husband but is also Patna High Court CWJC No.11857 of 2017 dt.17-03-2021

entitled for release of all the certificates, bonds, gold, silver

articles lying in the locker of the deceased husband of the

petitioner or with the respondent Bank, belonging to the

petitioner/ her deceased husband. It is also submitted that as far

as death-cum- retiral dues of the deceased husband of the

petitioner are concerned, the only remaining outstanding amount

to be paid is that part of the provident fund amount which

pertains to the period April 1967 to August 1997 inasmuch as

the calculation chart furnished by the respondent Bank, which

can be found at running page No.- 88 of the brief of the present

case, shows calculation w.e.f. September 1977, however, the

husband of the petitioner had joined the services of the

respondent Bank in the month of April 1967. It is further

submitted, by referring to last page of the said chart, which can

be found at running page No. 92 of the brief, that the calculation

is only upto the month of March, 1996, but the payment has

been made only in the year, 2018, hence interest is required to

be calculated up to the year 2018.

4. Per contra, the learned Senior counsel for the

respondent Bank Shri S.D. Sanjay, has submitted that running

page No.-88 of the brief would show that the balance amount in

the provident fund account of the petitioner, upto the month of Patna High Court CWJC No.11857 of 2017 dt.17-03-2021

September 1977 has been shown to be a sum of Rs. 2440.98

(Bank's contribution) as also a sum of Rs. 2440.98 (members

contribution) and since the deductions at that point of time were

meager, the cumulative amount upto the month of September,

1977 is also meager and moreover it is the case of the

respondent Bank that interest has been paid on the total amount

of provident fund, upto the date of payment.

5. The learned Senior counsel for the respondent Bank

has also submitted that as far as dismissal of the aforesaid

money suit is concerned, the respondent Bank has preferred a

first appeal bearing F.A. No. 11 of 2017, which is pending

adjudication before this Court. Lastly, it is submitted that as far

as the prayer of the petitioner for release of the certificates,

bonds, gold, silver, articles etc. are concerned, the said prayer of

the petitioner is not a part of the main writ petition, hence, the

consideration of the same would be amounting to enlarging the

scope of the present writ petition.

6. I have heard the learned Senior counsels for the

parties and perused the materials on record. As far as the death-

cum- retiral dues required to be paid to the petitioner are

concerned, the learned Senior counsel for the petitioner has only

raised the issue of non- payment of the full amount of provident Patna High Court CWJC No.11857 of 2017 dt.17-03-2021

fund, as aforesaid. In this regard, this Court would deem it fit

and proper to direct the respondent Bank to supply a calculation

chart to the petitioner within a period of four weeks from today,

regarding the computation of provident fund amount, right from

the inception i.e. from the date of joining of the deceased

husband of the petitioner in the services of the respondent Bank

in the month of April 1967 till the date of actual payment of the

provident fund amount i.e. 14.08.2018. It is further directed that

in case of any discrepancy being pointed out by the petitioner,

the respondent Bank shall consider the same and pass

appropriate orders, in accordance with law.

7. It is a trite law that no order of punishment can be

passed against a dead person and, in fact, no recovery can be

made from the death-cum- retiral benefits of the petitioner on

the allegation of the deceased husband of the petitioner having

defalcated the Bank's money, without his guilt having been

established by taking recourse to the due process of law, hence,

this Court finds that the respondent Bank has rightly made

payment of all the death-cum-retiral dues liable to be paid to the

deceased husband of the petitioner/ the petitioner, which is

apparent from paragraph no.3 of the counter-affidavit filed by

the respondent Bank in the present case, a bare perusal thereof Patna High Court CWJC No.11857 of 2017 dt.17-03-2021

would show that the following payments have been made to the

petitioner by the Bank:-

                       (i) Leave Encashment             Rs. 1,01,816.00
                       (ii) Gratuity                    Rs. 1,98,240.00

(iii) Arrear of family pension Rs. 14,93,607.00 (Till August' 2018).

(iv) Provident fund Rs. 3,15,562.00

8. This Court further finds that since the money suit

filed by the respondent Bank against the petitioner and other

legal heirs of the deceased husband of the petitioner for

recovery of the defalcated amount, has already stood dismissed,

as aforesaid, and there is no interim order in favour of the

respondent Bank in the pending appeal i.e. F.A. No. 11 of 2017,

the respondent Bank is interdicted from arrogating the

properties/ valuables of the deceased husband of the petitioner.

9. The writ petition stands disposed of on the

aforesaid terms.

(Mohit Kumar Shah, J)

Tiwary/-

AFR/NAFR                NAFR
CAV DATE                N/A
Uploading Date          24.03.2021
Transmission Date       N/A