REGIONAL COMMISSIONER Vs. CHELLAM ALIAS CHELLAMMAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AGGRIEVED of the order passed by the learned single Judge allowing the writ petition which was filed by the mother of the deceased son, died on 29.5.1987, while he was in service leaving behind him the mother and her husband as his dependants.

(2.) THE deceased was working as a conductor in the Madurai branch of the second respondent Corporation. The deceased was a member of the Employees Family Pension Scheme 1971 and the Employees Provident Fund Scheme 1952 (Miscellaneous). His P.F. No. is 2877/1 -1 -85. During his service he nominated his mother as his nominee for the purpose of family pension and also for provident fund accumulation benefits and he had contributed to the Family Pension Fund and Provident Fund for more than the eligible period of two years from 1.1.1985 to 29.9.1987. When the first respondent made application for receiving the above said benefits of the schemes after the death of her son, she was denied monthly family pension on the ground that for the purpose of family pension the family as defined under the scheme does not include the dependent mother and father of the deceased, even if he has died as a bachelor. Therefore, she approached this Court by way of writ petition.

(3.) ON consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned single Judge has allowed the writ petition, following the Judgment of the Gauhati High Court reported in Satya Ranjan Paul and another v. State of Tripura and others (2000 LAB. I.C. 1579), wherein the parents of the deceased employee approached the State Government for according sanction of family pension on the ground that they were fully dependant on their son, who had left behind neither a widow nor any child, the State Government referred the matter to the Advocate General, Tripura, who opined that the parents were not entitled to family pension, the parents of the deceased employee approached the High Court and the learned single Judge held that there cannot be any bar in extending the benefit of the scheme to the parents of the deceased employee who died prior to 1.1.1999 with effect from 1.1.1999 on the ground that this is a piece of welfare legislation and aims to achieve the objective of giving the financial protection to the helpless parents of a deceased employee of the State Government whose income is below certain level. Therefore, the writ petitioners in the instant case will be entitled to family pension as per the aforesaid scheme with effect from 1.1.1999.