SHAKUNTALA DEVI Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Smt. Shakuntala Devi is the widow of the Surya Bhushan Sinha who had filed this writ petition seeking direction(s) to the respondents for payment of the retiral dues. He died during the pendency of this case and his widow got herself substituted in his place for prosecuting the claim.

(2.) Surya Bhushan Sinha retired on 28-2-1993 while he was working as a Clerk in Nalanda Medical College Hospital. After more than four years of his retirement he was paid Rs. 10,191/-. This amount was paid to him as provisional pension (90%), gratuity (90%) and leave encashment, after deducting Rs. 61,129/-, which according to the concerned authorities was paid to him as excess salary on the basis of the two time-bound promotions wrongly allowed to him. When no further payments of his retiral dues were made, he filed this writ petition before this Court in January, 2000 and shortly thereafter he died on 22-4-2001. Thus, in the nine years during which he survived after his retirement in 1993 all that he was able to get from the respondent authorities as his retiral dues was the paltry sum of Rs. 10,191/-. According to the counsel appearing for the petitioner, Surya Bhushan Sinha died in penury and towards the end of his life he was not even able to get proper medical treatment.

(3.) After the death of Surya Bhushan Sinha and during the pendency of this case is widowed wife, the substituted petitioner, was paid on 18-10-2001, Rs. 3,21,697/-being the amount of pension from 1-3-1993 to 22-4-2001 @ Rs. 1,077 per month. Apart from this she was also paid family pension @ Rs. 450/- per month from 23-4-2001.