MAHENDRA BHUSHAN SHARMA Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BRIEF facts relevant for adjudication of the question involved in the case are that the petitioner has retired on 30. 9. 1993 as a Judge of the High Court. He was appointed as Lokayukta on 6. 7. 1994 for a period of five years under Sec. 3 of the Rajasthan Lokayukta and Up-Lokayukta Act, 1973. The petitioner, after completing his tenure of five years, retired from the post of Lokayukta on 6. 7. 1999. Pension papers of the petitioner were submitted by the Secretary, Lokayukta Secretariat, to the Principal Secretary to the Government, Department of Personnel (Gr. A-III), Government of Rajasthan, in the month of April, 1999 i. e. much before the date of retirement. The pension papers submitted by the petitioner claimed pension for the services rendered as Lokayukta for Five years at the rate of Rs. 14630/- for every completed year of service aggregating to Rs. 73150/- per annum. The petitioner has also claimed recomputation of the amount of gratuity on the basis of pay with Dearness Allowance payable to him treating his service of Lokayukta separate for the purpose of calculating the amount of gratuity, and the right to have the family pension.

(2.) THE Government of Rajasthan did not decide the pension matter of the petitioner for a long period but vide its order dated 6. 12. 1999 it has been ordered that the petitioner, who superannuated on 6. 7. 1999 after completion of five years as Lokayukta be paid Rs. 34,864/- per annum pension with effect from 7. 7. 1999 in addition to the pension he was drawing as a retired Judge of the High Court. THE order passed by the State Government is Annexure-2 to the petition. It appears that the State Government has clubbed the services rendered by the petitioner as Judge of the High Court and as a Lokayukta together for the purpose of calculation of his pension as Lokayukta and the pension has been fixed on the post of Lokayukta keeping the maximum pension payable to the retired Chief Justice of the High Court.

(3.) SECTION 17 A of the Act of 1954 is reproduced as under:- "17 A - Family pension and gratuities : Where a Judge who, being in service on or after the commencement of the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 1986, dies, whether before or after retirement in circumstances to which SECTION 17 does not apply, family pension calculated at the rate of sixty per cent of the pension admissible to him on the date of his death shall be payable to the person or persons entitled thereto and the amount so payable shall be paid form the day following the date of death of the Judge for a period of seven years or for a period upto the date on which the Judge would have attained the age of sixty-five years had he survived, whichever is earlier, and thereafter at the rate of half of the family pension so admissible subject to a minimum of one thousand two hundred and seventy five rupees per month"