Swapna Nandi Roy vs State Of Tripura And Ors

Petitioner is a widow of deceased Government servant Narayan Chandra Roy who died on 12.10.2017 while still in service. At the time of his death he was working as a Night Guard. His widow has so far not received the family pension and her request for appointment on compassionate ground has also got stuck on account of administrative red-tapism. It is painful to encounter a case where because of one legal requirement after another, the widow of a deceased Government servant more than two years after the death has received no family pension.

The situation has arisen because the Government servant had married twice. The petitioner is the second wife, the deceased having married her after the death of his first wife. The case for appointment on compassionate ground is not proceeding because the petitioner is unable to produce survival certificate. Survival certificate is not being issued because the petitioner is unable to make an application duly signed by all legal heirs of the deceased. Family pension is stalled because of similar reasons, though in the service book the deceased had nominated the petitioner for receipt of such family pension.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) is refusing to accept the application for issuance of survival certificate unless it is signed by all legal heirs of the deceased. The stepdaughters of the petitioner are not in good terms with her and, therefore, refuse to sign it. He stated that the deceased had left behind his widow, i.e. the present petitioner, his minor son born out of the second marriage and 4(four) daughters of the previous marriage. All of them are married and are shown as respondents No.6 to 9 and who have not responded to the notice of this petition.

No provision is pointed out to me under which an application for survival certificate must bear the signatures of all legal heirs of the deceased. Even otherwise it is not difficult to imagine that there may be large number of cases where on account of internal family disputes between the legal heirs of the deceased, all of them may not agree to file a joint application for such purpose. Does it mean that in all such cases, no certificate would be issued? This can, therefore, not be a ground for not accepting such an application. All that the applicant/s of such a certificate can be expected to do is to truly and faithfully declare the details of all legal heirs of the deceased. Even if the SDM receives an application stated to be duly signed by all legal heirs, it would be his duty to make preliminary inquiries in order to ascertain whether the declarations made in such application including the declaration that the same is signed by all legal heirs are correct.

With respect to family pension, the same must be released forthwith and without any further ado. When the deceased had nominated the petitioner as his wife to receive the family pension, the department ought to have acted upon the same. The first right of receiving family pension is of the widow of the deceased. When such nomination was made, the department never disputed the relationship of the Government servant with the petitioner. Even while waiting for completing further formalities, the family pension must start provisionally.

The petition is, therefore, disposed of with following directions:

(i) The petitioner shall make an application to the concerned SDM for issuance of survival certificate. In such application she will disclose the names and addresses of all legal heirs of the deceased. The SDM shall receive the same without insisting on the application being signed by other legal heirs of the deceased, process the same and dispose it of within one month from the date of receipt of the application;

(ii) Upon issuance of such certificate, the petitioner shall produce the same before the Government upon which her application for compassionate appointment shall be processed further and decided within 3(three) months from the date of receipt of such certificate;

(iii) The respondents shall release the family pension of the petitioner on provisional basis forthwith awaiting completion of other procedural requirements. As soon as such requirements are completed, the arrears shall also be paid.

Pending application(s), if any, also stands disposed of.