IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Writ Petition (M/B) No. 76 of 2004 (Old No.40484 of 1996) Smt.Veena Kishore …..…….. Petitioner Versus Union of India and others ....……… Respondents Coram:- Hon’ble J.S. Khehar, Chief Justice Hon’ble V.K.Bist, Judge Present: Mr. Nand Gopal Singh Advocate with Mr. G.C. Kandpal, Advocate for the petitioner. None for respondent No.1. Mr. L.P. Naithani, Senior Advocate for respondent Nos. 2 & 3. Date of Decision: 12.04.2010 J.S. Khehar, C.J. (Oral) The husband (Anand Kishore) of the petitioner joined the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (hereinafter referred to as the ONGC) as Assistant Executive Engineer on 08.09.1980. The ONGC introduced the Self Contributory Post Retirement & Death in Service Benefit Scheme (hereinafter referred to as the Scheme), which came to be implemented with effect from 01.04.1990. All regular executives of the ONGC were eligible to become members of the Scheme. The husband of the petitioner opted for the said Scheme through his communication dated 04.05.1990. The option submitted by the petitioner’s husband has been placed on the record of the writ petition as Annexure-1. Relevant extract thereof is being reproduced hereunder:- “Sri Anand Kishore (name) Dy. S. E. (P) (Designation) presently posted at Uran (Station) do hereby voluntarily opt to join the self contributory Benefit Scheme with effect from 1st April 1990 and I hereby authorize necessary deductions of the amount as per this scheme every month from my salary. My option is irrevocable. My date of birth is 20.03.1953.” A perusal of the communication submitted by the petitioner reveals, that his option was voluntary, as also irrevocable. Besides opting for the scheme, the petitioner’s husband authorized the ONGC to make 2 necessary deductions of the contribution from his salary. In so far as the issue of contribution is concerned, the same is depicted in paragraph 2 of the Scheme as under:- “2. CONTRIBUTION: 2 . 1 . The contribution to be made by the member- employee shall be calculated on his salary and the rate will be as given hereunder depending on his age on the effective date of the Scheme for employees on the roll of ONGC as on 1.4.1990 and on the date of joining ONGC for new entrants. The rate of contribution fixed at the time of entry will remain constant. The following rates of contribution are payable in the various age group:- (i) Below 25 years - 0.5% of salary. (ii) 25 and upto 30 years - 0.75% of salary. (iii) above 30 and upto 35 years - 1% of salary. (iv) above 35 and upto 40 years - 2% of salary. (v) above 40 and upto 45 years - 3% of salary. (vi) above 45 and upto 48 years - 4% of salary . (vii) above 48 and upto 50 years - 4.5% of salary. (viii) above 50 and upto 58 years - 5% of salary. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2. 2. Employees superannuating within ten years from the effective date of the scheme, shall be required to contribute minimum for a period of 10 years. For this purpose, the contribution will be made on monthly basis during the service period and the balance will be paid in lump-sum as in 1 (c) above. 2 . 3. Apart from the above contribution depending upon the age at the time of the entry in the scheme as a percentage of the employees’ salary, additional cash contribution will be made by member employee to make up the requirements relating to funding the scheme as determined by actuaries/trustees, from time to time.” 2. Having opted for the aforesaid Scheme, the husband of the petitioner i.e. Anand Kishore died in harness on 25.05.1990. After his death, the petitioner addressed communications to the ONGC requiring it to release the benefits payable under the Scheme to her. In response to her requests for release of the aforesaid benefits, the petitioner received a communication dated 16.04.1996 informing her, that since no premium was paid “by the individual”, the case did not merit consideration. In so far as the issue of premium is concerned, the expressed position depicted in the order dated 16.04.1996 becomes clear from another letter dated 08.12.1993 issued by the ONGC to the petitioner. In the aforesaid letter (Annexure - 2 with the writ petition) it had been expressed, that Shri 3 Anand Kishore had opted to join pension scheme from 01.04.1990 and, therefore, contribution for two months i.e. April and May 1990 is recoverable from him at the rate of 2% of salary as he was in the age group of 35-40 years. The only issue that arises for consideration at our hands is, whether the husband of the petitioner i.e. Anand Kishore must be deemed to have paid the aforesaid premium/contribution at the rate of 2% of his salary ? In so far as the instant issue is concerned, it is not necessary for us to look for ann answer thereto from any other communication but the option exercised by Anand Kishore when he applied for being made a member of the Scheme on 04.05.1990. 3. The option submitted by Anand Kishore has been extracted hereinabove. Its perusal reveals that he expressly opted to join the Scheme. He also required the authorities to make deductions of the amount payable under the Scheme every month from his salary. The aforesaid assertion at the hands of the petitioner’s husband amounted to an authorization to deduct contributions of the premium under the Scheme from his salary. As soon as he exercised the aforesaid option on 04.05.1990, he must be deemed to have paid the premium/contribution in terms of the Scheme as and when they were payable. If the authorities themselves failed to recover the same from his salary, then they cannot blame him for their own lapse. Thus viewed, it is not possible for us to accept that the petitioner’s husband had failed to pay the premium/contribution envisaged under the Scheme. 4. The sole issue raised at the hands of the respondents, namely, that the petitioner’s husband did not pay any contribution/ premium in terms of the Scheme prior to his death on 25.05.1990 is, therefore, found to be incorrect. As such, the solitary objection for denying benefits under the Scheme to the petitioner is held to be clearly misfounded. 5. In view of the above, the instant petition is liable to be allowed. The same is accordingly hereby allowed. It, however, deserves further notice, that the petitioner’s husband died as far back as on 25.05.1990. The petitioner was denied benefits under the Scheme in 4 1996. Immediately upon the aforesaid denial the petitioner approached the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad by filing Civil Miscellaneous Writ Petition No.40484 of 1996. On the creation of the State of Uttarakhand on 09.11.2000, the aforesaid writ petition came to be transferred to this Court. Before this Court, it came to be re-numbered as Writ Petition (M/B) No.76 of 2004. It has come up for final hearing today after a period of two decades of the death of the petitioner’s husband and after a period of 14 years from the date of the filing of the present writ petition. The objections raised at the hands of the ONGC to deny monetary benefits to the petitioner under the Scheme were frivolous and unfounded. We are, therefore, satisfied that exemplary costs deserve to be awarded to the petitioner. Accordingly, the ONGC is directed to release all monetary benefits under the Scheme to the petitioner within three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order alongwith a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees one lac) as costs, for unfairly and wrongfully denying monetary benefits which were due to a widow whose husband had died in harness.. 6. The instant writ petition is allowed in the aforesaid terms. ( V.K. Bist, J.) ( J.S. Khehar, C.J.) 12.04.2010 12.04.2010 P.Singh