A & Ors. v. State of Rajasthan & Ors.

[2024:RJ-JD:2107]

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR

S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 2016/2018

(1) Miss A.; (2) S.; (3) Miss S. (through her natural guardian, her grandmother) ----Petitioners

Versus

(1) State Of Rajasthan Through Its Principal Secretary, Medical And Health Services, Govt. Of Rajasthan, Secretariat, Jaipur; (2) The Additional Director Administration, Medical And Health Department, Health, Bhawan, Jaipur; (3) Chief Medical And Health Officer, Jodhpur; (4) Deputy Director, Department Of State Insurance And Provident Fund, Bima Bhawan, Kachhari Campus, Jodhpur; (5) Joint Director, Pension And Pensioners Welfare Department, Jodhpur; (6) Life Insurance Corporation Of India, Divisional Office, 1St West Patel Nagar, Circuit House Road, Jodhpur Through Its Marketing Manager; (7) Shri A.; (8) Tehsildar, [place withheld]. ----Respondents

For Petitioner(s): Mr. Yashpal Khileree
For Respondent(s): Ms. Vandana Bhansali, AGC

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN MONGA

Order (Oral)

12/01/2024

[NyayVidhan notes: the stored text is taken from the official Rajasthan High Court PDF (6 pages); the PDF is authoritative and is not attached on NyayVidhan. (1) The petitioners are the children of a government employee who was murdered (the order refers to them as minors), and their father, respondent No. 7, is a co-accused in her murder. NyayVidhan therefore anonymises the petitioners (Miss A., S. and Miss S.), their mother (Smt. B.) and their father (A.) by initials, and the cause title is abridged: parentage, caste, addresses, the name and age of the grandmother who is the guardian of petitioner No. 3, and the father's parentage, caste, address and place of custody are omitted. (2) The name of the other accused, the place the mother went to, the tehsil (also in the description of respondent No. 8 and in para 3) the investigating agency and the dates of the mother's disappearance, of the FIR and of the removal of her name from the service roll (para 2) are shown as [withheld]. (3) Running heads, page numbers, upload/download stamps, the stenographer's code and the 'Whether fit for reporting' line are removed. (4) The opening paragraph is unnumbered in the original; the Court's numbers 2-13 are kept. Two consecutive paragraphs are numbered '6.' in the original (Rules 66 and 67 of the Rajasthan Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1996 quoted, then their reading); both are kept as printed. (5) Slips are kept as printed, e.g. 'onthe', 'daugther', 'exceedings' in the quoted Rules and the missing closing quote in 'the Rules of 1996).]

Grievance of the petitioners, pertains to the denial of service benefits by the respondents qua their mother's demise while serving as an Auxiliary Nursing Midwifery (ANM) in the Medical and Health Department. The petitioners' late mother, Smt. B., was, in fact, tragically murdered, as was unraveled during the investigation by the [investigating agency withheld]. Consequently, her name was removed from government service by the respondent medical department.

2. Succinct factual narrative, shorn of unnecessary details, unfolds as follows: Smt. B., the petitioners' mother, was employed by the respondent Medical and Health Department as an ANM. On [date withheld], she went to [place withheld] to collect payment for her sold car but never to return back home, prompting her husband A. to lodge a missing person report. Subsequently, an FIR was lodged on [date withheld], implicating one [name withheld] in her disappearance. The ensuing [agency withheld] investigation revealed her tragic demise at the hands of accused [name withheld] and co-accused A. (father of petitioners), leading to removal of her name from government service roll on [date withheld]. Pursuant to the Rajasthan Compassionate Appointment of Dependents of Deceased Government Service Rules, 1996, petitioner No.2 was appointed as an LDC on February 28, 2012.

3. However, the petitioners encountered obstacles in accessing their entitled service benefits of their mother. The respondent Medical Department conditioned the payment of retiral benefits upon the submission of Smt. B.'s death certificate, which was declined by the Tehsildar, [place withheld]. Additionally, respondent No.7 filed an application in 2017 for family pension and other benefits as the nominee of his wife, Smt. B., which too was not processed in absence of death certificate.

4. In response to the writ petition, the respondents’ stand is that A., the husband of Smt. B., is the entitled nominee for state insurance, provident fund benefits, and pension. However, as A. failed to submit for any claim or produce the requisite death certificate, the entitlement remains unclaimed. Respondent No.4 from the State Insurance and Provident Fund Department echoed the assertions made by respondents No.1 to 3.

5. Having considered the submissions from both parties, I shall proceed to address the issues at hand, elucidating my deliberations and conclusions in the ensuing paragraphs.

6. The first and foremost reference may be laid to Rules 66 and 67 of the Rajasthan Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1996 (for short, ‘the Rules of 1996), which for ready reference, are reproduced as below:
"Rule 66. Definitions (1) ‘Family’ for the purpose of these rules will include the following relations of the Government servant:- (a) wife, in the case of a male Government servant and husband, in the case of a female Government servant; (b) a judicially separated wife or husband, such separation not being granted onthe ground of adultery; (c) son / daughter including widows/divorced daughter till he/she attained the age of 25 years or on earning a monthly income exceeding Rs.6,000 or upto the date of his/her marriage/re-marriage, whichever is earlier. The term son/daughter shall also include son/daughter adopted legally and posthumous child of a Government servant. (d) parents who were wholly dependant upon the Government servant when he/she was alive provided the deceased employee had left behind neither a widow nor a child and the income of parent is not more than Rs.6,000/- per month. (2) ‘Emoluments’ means emoluments as defined in Rule 45 of Rajasthan Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1996, which the deceased Government servant was drawing on the date of his death while in service or immediately before his retirement; if on the date of his death while in service or immediately before his retirement such Government servant has been absent from duty on leave (including extraordinary leave) or suspension, emoluments means the emoluments which he drew immediately before proceeding on such leave or suspension. Rule 67. Condition of Grant The family pension shall be admissible to - (a) a widow/widower, up to the date of death or remarriage, whichever is earlier; (b) unmarried son till he attains the age of twenty five years or on earning a monthly income exceeding Rs.6,000/- per month whichever is earlier. (c) unmarried daugther upto the date of her marriage or on earning a monthly income exceeding Rs.6000/- per month whichever is earlier. (d) widowed/divorced daughter of any age upto the date of remarriage or till the date she starts earning a monthly income exceedings Rs.6000/- per month or upto the date of death whichever is earlier. (e) parents who were wholly dependent upon the Government servant when he/she was alive provided the deceased employee had left behind neither a widow nor a child and the income of parent is not more than Rs.6000/- Provided that if the son or daughter of any age of a Government servant/pensioner is suffering from any disorder or disability of mind or is physically crippled or disabled or blind or deaf and dumb so as to render him or her unable to earn a living, the family pension shall be payable to such son or daughter for life, subject to the following conditions, namely, - (i) If there are more than one such children suffering from disorder or disability of mind or who are physically crippled or disabled or blind or deaf and dumb, the family pension shall be paid in the order of their birth and the younger of them will get the family pension only after the elder next above him/her ceases to be eligible; (ii) before allowing the family pension for life to any such son or daughter, the sanctioning authority shall satisfy that the handicap is of such a nature so as to prevent him or her from earning livelihood evidenced by a certificate obtained from a medical officer not below the rank of Chief Medical & Health Officer/Medical Jurist setting out, as far as possible, the exact mental or physical incapacity; and (iii) the person receiving the family pension as natural/legal guardian of such son or daughter or such son or daughter not receiving the family pension through the guardian, shall produce every three years a certificate from a medical officer not below the rank of Chief Medical & Health Officer/Medical Jurist to the effect that he or she continues to suffer from disorder or disability of mind or continues to be physically crippled or disabled or blind or deaf and dumb."

6. A bare perusal of the aforesaid rules clearly reflect that son and daughter including a widow/divorced daughter, till they attain the age of 25 years or otherwise earning monthly income exceeding Rs.6,000/- , are entitled to the service benefits upon the death of an employee in harness.

7. The sole rationale discernible from the conduct of the respondents, which served as a hindrance to bestowing benefits appears to stem from the deceased mother's inclusion of her husband's name as the beneficiary for service benefits in her service record in the event of her demise.

8. Being a co-accused/ under-trial himself in the murder trial of his wife, has rendered the father of the minors ineligible to claim any benefits. In the premise, to balance the equities and prevent any potential unjust enrichment of the accused father arising from the demise of the petitioners' mother, the respondents are instructed to ascertain all service benefits stemming from her demise in the admissible proportion of the all legal heirs.

9. Upon determination, an amount corresponding to the father's share shall be withheld, while the remainder shall be disbursed retroactively from the date it would have ordinarily been disbursed to the minors had their father not been implicated in the murder.

10. Needless to say, in the event of the father's acquittal, he shall receive his entitled dues in accordance with law.

11. The accrued arrears, duly calculated, must be disbursed within a span of four months, along with interest as per the applicable service regulations.

12. The department is granted the liberty to request an inspection of the deceased mother's death certificate or obtain certified copy thereof from the criminal court. Upon such an application being moved, the learned Trial Court is requested to permit the department's representative to inspect the death certificate and/or provide copy thereof.

13. The writ petition is disposed of accordingly.

(ARUN MONGA),J