RAM CHAMELI Vs. SR DIVISIONAL FINANCE MANAGER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Vide the present petition, the petitioner seeks direction to the Respondents to release the family pension that the Petitioner is entitled to from November, 2017 till date and for a further directions to the Respondent No.1 to issue appropriate instruction to Respondent No.2 to continue paying family pension at rates specified by law during her life time. She further seeks directions thereby directing the respondents to jointly to pay interest 18% p.a. on the entire withheld amounts till actual payment. She also prays for directions to the respondent No. 2 Bank to pay an amount of Rs. 2 lakhs as compensation to the petitioner for wilfully violating the petitioner's right to pension under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India for subjecting the Petitioner to deprivation while being aware that the frugal pension receivable by the Petitioner was a matter of her fundamental and statutory right.

(2.) The petitioner is a 86 year old widow of late Sh. Mehar Chand Katar, who was working with Delhi Division of Northern Railway, retired on 24.07.1980 and died on 26.08.1991. On the death of Late Shri Mehar Chand Katar, instructions were given to Syndicate Bank, Mayapuri Branch (Bank) to credit the family pension through the Pension Payment Order No. 0280663 (PRO) issued by the Northern Railways. The Petitioner started receiving regular family pension in her account from Northern Railways which was credited/paid through the Bank, ever since the death of her husband.

(3.) Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits that all of a sudden, the Respondent No.2 Bank stopped crediting the family pension in Petitioner's account from November 2017 and the reason given was that the Bank had lost/misplaced the original Pension Payment Order [PPO] during shifting of its old records internally. The Respondent Bank has since been continuously insisting that the petitioner should produce a duplicate of the original PPO issued by the Northern Railways after the death of Late Shri Mehar Chand Katar. The Petitioner was never in receipt of the PPO personally as this is a formal document given by Northern Railways to the Bank for processing/crediting the family pension in the Petitioner's account. However, the Petitioner has approached Respondent No.1 Northern Railways as well as the Respondent No.2 Bank several times but to no avail.