Paramjeet vs Union Territory Of J&K & Ors.

Rajinder Singh Dogra, Member (J)

The instant petition has been filed by the learned counsel for the applicant with following prayers:

(i) Direct the respondents to release all the service benefits in favour of the applicant which are still due towards the applicant on account of death of husband of applicant, namely, Wazir Masih who was serving in PHE Department as Pump Operator/Turn Cock and died during his active service on 04.10.1998.

(ii) Direct the respondents to accord benefits of SRO 43 of 1994 in favour of the legal heirs of the deceased employee, namely, Wazir Masih.

The brief facts of the case is that the applicant herein got married with one Wazir Masih, who had died on 04.10.1998 leaving behind the applicant and three children as his legal heirs. After the demise of the husband, the applicant has applied for grant of benefits under SRO 43 and has also submitted relevant documents in this regard. Not only this as already mentioned hereinabove, that the applicant has also been declared as legal heir of the deceased by the Court of law vide decree dated 29.09.2016 in which she claimed pensionary benefits, GP Fund, leave salary and other benefits and she had also submitted the decree before the respondents for the grant of such benefits but nothing avail. On 02.08.2002, the applicant had submitted application before respondent no. 2 seeking benefits of SRO 43 and other benefits but the respondent no. 2 has not taken any action over the matter. The applicant again approached the respondent no. 2 for seeking release of service benefits and benefits of SRO 43 by way of representation dated 29.10.2016 which was duly received by the office of the respondent no. 4 for processing the case under rules. Vide letter dated 29.08.2018 issued by the respondent no. 4 and addressed to respondent no. 2 in which the respondent no. 4 submitted that the service book of the husband of the applicant is not found/traced and also sought necessary guidelines to proceed further in the matter. Constrained by the delay on the part of the respondents, the applicant serve a legal notice to the respondents by virtue of which they were called upon to release the said benefits in favour of the applicant within a period of 60 days. Despite service of the notice, the respondents have not taken any action over the matter till date which ultimately, constrained the applicant to file the instant O.A.

Learned counsel for the applicant submitted that the applicant herein under law is entitled to receive the benefits of SRO 43 and other service benefits but the respondents without assigning any reasons delayed the release of the same in favour of the applicant which has caused mental harassment and agony to the applicant because she is being deprived of the benefits for which she is entitled under law at the hands of the respondents.

Learned counsel for the applicant further submitted that the applicant who had already filed various representations to the respondents time and again as mentioned hereinabove, and finally she had also served legal notice to the respondents, but the respondents instead of processing the case of the applicant are sleeping over the matter and are not performing their statutory duties.

Mr. Dewakar Sharma, ld. DAG has filed the reply on behalf of the respondents in which it was stated that Mrs. Paramjeet Wd/o Sh. Wazir Masih, Class-IV employee had applied for compassionate appointment under SRO-43 in the month of 08/2002, 04 years after the death of her husband on 04-10-1998. As per the, provision of SRO-43, the applicant should have applied within, 01 year after the death of her husband. Moreover, she could not produce any other document at that time. However, after a lapse of more than 16 years, the applicant produced legal heir certificate on 29-09-2016 which could not serve the purpose to give the benefits of SRO-43 as it is time barred case as per extant rules of the time. The same has also been mentioned in a communication by Chief Engineer, Jal Shakti (PHE) Department Jammu vide No. PHEJ/GE/6775-77 dated 03-08-2019. The application for appointment on compassionate grounds under consideration being a time bound case, SRO-43 deserve no consideration being a time bound case.

Learned DAG further submitted that the service book of the deceased could not be traced out as the same is not available in the office records. Even the applicant could not produced the service book of the deceased, presuming that Sh. Wazir Masih had taken the service book with him during his lifetime and kept it in his own custody and died before returning it to office.

Learned DAG also submitted that SRO-43 benefits cannot be bestowed to the applicant as a time barred case. So far the other benefits are concerned in absence of service book; the case cannot be processed further. In this matter higher authorities have been requested for constitution of committee for re-construction of service book of deceased Wazir Mashi (communication through e-office). As and when service Book in reframed, the case of other benefits shall be processed.

I have heard both the parties and gone through the records and come to the conclusion that the applicant who had already filed various representations to the respondents time and again and finally she had also served legal notice to respondents, but the respondents instead of processing the case of the applicant are sleeping over the matter and are not performing their statutory duties. The loss of service book of the husband of the applicant is not the fault of applicant. So, the applicant should not face negative consequences for a loss of service book by the Department. The authority should reconstruct the duplicate service book or provide the alternate document to verify the applicant’s record.

In view of the above, the respondents are directed to release all the service benefits in favour of the applicant which are still due towards the applicant on account of death of husband of applicant, namely, Wazir Masih who was serving in PHE Department as Pump Operator/Turn Cock and died during his active service on 04.10.1998. The respondents are further directed to accord benefits of SRO 43 of 1994 by giving the suitable employment to the legal heirs of the deceased employee within a period of six weeks.

With these directions, the O.A. No. 1235 of 2021 is disposed of.

However, there shall be no orders as to costs.