Mukti Nath Jha vs The State Of Bihar
2023 Latest Caselaw 2105 Patna

         IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                   Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.22644 of 2018
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Nirmala Jha W/o Late Mukti Nath Jha, resident of Phulwaria, P.S. Akbar Nagar, Distt-Bhagalpur.

... ... Petitioner/s Versus

1. The State of Bihar through the Principal Secretary, Deptt. of Finance, Govt.

of Bihar, Patna.

2. The Principal Secretary, Department of Health, Medial Education and Family Welfare, Govt. of Bihar,

3. The Joint Secretary, Department of Health, Medial Education and Family Welfare, Govt. of Bihar, New

4. The Director I.M., Department of Health, Govt. of Bihar, Patna.

5. The Principal, Sri Y.N.A. Ayurved College, Champanagar, Nath Nagar, Bhagalpur.

6. The Treasury Officer, Bhagalpur.

7. The Accountant General, Bihar, Patna.

... ... Respondent/s ======================================================

Appearance :

     For the Petitioner/s   :       Mr.Purushottam Kumar, Advocate
     For the Respondent/s   :       Mr.Mujtabul Haque, G.P. 12
     For the AG             :       Mr.Ram Yash Singh, Advocate

====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PURNENDU SINGH

ORAL JUDGMENT

Date : 04-05-2023

Heard Mr. Purushottam Kumar Jha, learned counsel

appearing on behalf of the petitioner; Mr. Mujtabul Haque, learned

GP 12 appearing on behalf of the respondents and Mr. Ram Yash

Singh, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Accountant

General, Bihar.

Patna High Court CWJC No.22644 of 2018 dt.04-05-2023

2. The petitioner has filed the present writ application

for the following relief(s) :

"i. To hold and declare that the action of the respondent no.7 (The Accountant General, Bihar) in not sanctioning 100 % pension in favour of the petition is contemptuous to the order dated 15.04.2014 passed in CWJC no.8998 of 2007 (vide Annexure -1) and passed is in teeth of the resolution of the Finance Department, Bihar as contained in Memo No.50 dated 15.01.2016 (vide Annexure 10).

ii. For commanding the respondents concerned especially respondent no.7 (The Accountant General, Bihar) to sanction full pension amount of monthly pension i.e. 19,720/- w.e.f. 01.06.2007 in favour of the petitioner and also ensure arrear of pension from 01.06.2007.

iii. For quashing Ref. No.Pen 02/PEN130516020887/436712 P4 dated 27.05.2016 (vide Annexure 18) and also to refund recovered gratuity amount of Rs.85,794/- and also to ensure payment of left over claim of gratuity of rs.1,38,295/- and other reliefs."

3. The undisputed facts are that the Health Department,

Government of Bihar, vide order No.584 (De.Chi) dated

12.06.2008 issued sanctioned order for payment of pension,

gratuity and commuted value of pension to the Accountant

General, Bihar and thereafter vide departmental letter no.1219

(De.Chi) dated 03.12.2008, a reminder was sent to the Accountant

General to issue authority letter of differential amount of

admissible pension and commuted value of pension. Vide letter

dated 28.12.2018, the Accountant General was again

communicated, however, the Accountant General sat over the Patna High Court CWJC No.22644 of 2018 dt.04-05-2023

matter and did not issue the authority letter and sought clear

decision/direction regarding sanction order of 10%

pension/gratuity to the petitioner. Several communications

thereafter were made by the Officer-on-Special Duty, Health

Department, which is annexed as Annexure 'D' to the counter

affidavit, however, the Accountant General wrote a letter vide

letter no.12221 dated 29.12.2022 that the deceased employee Late

Mukti Nath Jha (the original petitioner) is no more, as such the

death certificate of Late Dr. Mukti Nath Jha is required to be

provided so that the amended authority letter may be issued. The

Officer-on-Special Duty communicated the said fact to the widow

of the deceased, vide letter no.145 (Aa.Chi) dated 01.02.2023 to

furnish the death certificate of Late Dr. Mukti Natha Ojha. The

death certificate of Late Dr. Mukti Nath Ojha was submitted and

the pension payment order has been issued. The widow of the

deceased employee is now getting family pension as admitted by

the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner Mr.

Purushottam Kumar Jha. The question arises as to whether the

deceased employee's pension during his life time was paid or not ?

4. It is submitted by the learned counsel appearing on

behalf of the respondents that 90 % of the pension was released to

the deceased employee and 10 % was withheld. The respondents Patna High Court CWJC No.22644 of 2018 dt.04-05-2023

have admitted in pargraph no.9 of the counter affidavit that in the

light of Finance Department resolution no.50/Vi dated 15.01.2016,

the petitioner is entitled to get full pension. In view of the

departmental memo no.963 (Aa.Chi.) dated 16.08.2022, full

pension has been sanctioned, however, the same has not been

received by the petitioner. The petitioner is only aggrieved by the

recovery of gratuity amounting to Rs.1,41,161/-, out of which the

petitioner had deposited through vouchers amounting to

Rs.53,500/-. In spite of the fact that the petitioner has deposited

Rs.53,500/-, entire amount of Rs.1,41,161/- has been recovered

from the account of the petitioner without adjusting the amount

already paid.

5. Considering the aforesaid grievance of the petitioner,

the petitioner is required to file evidence in support of his claim by

furnishing voucher(s).

6. This Court on several occasions has directed the

present Principal of the College to come along with the records of

the College and all the office records relating to vouchers to verify

the claim of the petitioner that he had deposited the money. The

College has suffered loss. In spite of the sincere endeavour of the

Principal of the College, the voucher has not been searched out. Patna High Court CWJC No.22644 of 2018 dt.04-05-2023

7. At this stage, learned counsel for the petitioner Mr.

Purushottam Kumar sumits that the petitioner is illiterate and he

will provide her proper assistance in searching out the voucher on

which basis the bank account of the College can be verified from

the Bank (Central Bank of India) and subsequently the State Bank

of India where the account of the College lies.

8. The Principal of the College admits that the details of

the account of the College is available with him with respect up to

period 2005 whereas the petitioner had retired in the year 2007.

The details of the account with respect to the period 2005-2007

must be made available to the petitioner.

9. This Court finds the irregularities, which has come on

the record is one example. In large scale, misappropriation of fund

of the College has taken place for which only the petitioner can not

be held responsible.

10. The Principal of the College is directed to hand over

all the statements of the account to the Health Department so that

the Health Department can look into the affairs of the College in

general and the financial irregularities committed in particular.

11. The Accountant General, Bihar is directed to release

remaining 10 % of the pension to the petitioner forthwith.

Patna High Court CWJC No.22644 of 2018 dt.04-05-2023

12. It is being informed by the learned counsel

appearing on behalf of the Accountant General that 10 % of the

pension, which was not credited in the account of the petitioner,

has already been credited on 6.3.2023.

13. The Accountant General, Bihar is warned for delay

caused on his part. He is now required to take personal interest in

in cases of pensioners and to ensure payment in time soon after the

sanction letter is received. In the present case, the sanctioned letter

was received in his office in the year, 2022.

14. With the above direction/observation, the present

writ application is disposed of.

(Purnendu Singh, J) chn/-

AFR/NAFR                NAFR
CAV DATE
Uploading Date          06.05.2023
Transmission Date       06.05.2023