IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF OCTOBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH WRIT PETITION NO : 2117 of 2004 Between: B.Venkateswar Redy, S/o.late N.Chenna Reddy R/o.D.no.7-916, Rahamath nagar, Anantapur ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Superintendent Engineer, A.P.Transco, S.E.Office Near Milk Dairy, Anantapur. 2 The Divisional Engineer, Gooty, K.V.132 Lines, Sub- Division A.P.transco, Gooty, Anantapur District. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue an order or direction or writ particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus declaring the inaction of the respondents in not paying the beneﬁts accrued to my father late N.Chenna Reddy on his death and in not recruiting me in the employment in the oﬃces of the respondents on compassionate grounds as illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional and direct the respondents to pay the beneﬁts of my father to me and further direct the respondents to pay the beneﬁts of my father to me and further direct the respondents to provide employment to me on compassionate grounds in the oﬃce of the respondents interest of justice. Counsel for the Petitioner:MRCHETLURU SREENIVAS Counsel for the Respondent No.: P.R.BALARAMI REDDY(SC FOR AP TRANSCO) The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition has been ﬁled seeking Mandamus to declare the inaction of the respondents in paying the beneﬁts accrued to the father of the petitioner late N. Chenna Reddy and in recruiting the petitioner in the oﬃce of the respondents on compassionate grounds, as illegal and arbitrary and consequently direct the respondents to pay the beneﬁts of his father and to provide him employment on compassionate grounds in the office of the respondents. The case of the petitioner is that his father, N. Chenna Reddy (hereinafter referred to ‘the deceased’), was working in APSEB, Sub-station, Gooty as Electrician. The deceased died in harness on 05-02-1984. The petitioner was the minor, at the time of the death of the deceased. Since no terminal beneﬁts have been granted to the family of the petitioner, after attaining the age of majority, the petitioner made representations dated 08-06-2001 and 28-09-2001 to the respondents requesting them to release the terminal beneﬁts of the deceased such as, Gratuity, Funeral Expenses, leave salary, G.P.F., Pension, etc., and to consider his request for appointment on compassionate grounds. As there was no response from the respondent authorities, he made a representation dated 17-07-2003 to the District Legal Services Authority, Anantapur, which was registered as P.L.C. No.634 of 2003. Though the District Legal Services Authority issued notice to the respondents, but they did not choose to appear before the District Legal Services Authority and hence the District Legal Services Authority passed an order dated 18-10-2003 stating that the petitioner and his counsel present and the respondent is absent. Since the respondent is not appearing, there is no possibility of settlement and at the request of the petitioner the petition was closed, so as to enable him to seek proper legal remedies. In view of the above, the petitioner has come up with the instant writ petition. On behalf of the respondents, counter has been filed, inter alia, stating that on 08-06-2001 the petitioner has submitted the representation to the Assistant Divisional Engineer/Lines/Gooty and he has not submitted proper pension proposals, thus the respondents are unable to calculate the pensionary beneﬁts subject to the eligibility and informed the petitioner to submit proper pension proposals. As and when the proper pension proposals were received from the petitioner, the terminal beneﬁts will be calculated as per the Revised Pension Regulations subject to the eligibility. It is stated that the petitioner has contacted the oﬃce of the respondents on 08-06-2001 and submitted his representation along with legal heir certiﬁcate, death certiﬁcate of the deceased and a copy of SSC marks certiﬁcate for sanction of pensionary beneﬁts and seeking employment on compassionate grounds. Further it is also submitted that at the time of the death of the deceased the petitioner was a minor, aged about four years, therefore the petitioner is not eligible for employment on compassionate grounds. As per the Board’s Memo No.DP/DM.II/G-1/983/89, dated 21-02-1991 as adopted by the C.P.D.C. of A.P. Limited, a minor child may be allowed two years time from the date of demise of the employee to become eligible for employment. If the dependent child is registered his application within one year, such cases shall be considered either after attaining the age of 18 years or after acquiring the required qualiﬁcation for appointment to suitable post. It is submitted that the issue has been examined by the Board and it was decided to follow Government Rules to allow two years time to minor dependents from the date of death/retirement on Medical Invalidation of Board employees while in service to become eligible for employment. The respondents were strictly adhere to follow the Government Rules in allowing two years to minor dependents from the date of death of Board employee while in service to become eligible for employment. In view of the above, the petitioner is not eligible for appointment on compassionate grounds since he was a minor on the date of death of the deceased and the petitioner does not complete 18 years of age even after allowing him two years relaxation to become major as per Memo dated 21-02-1991. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that since the respondents have not responded to the representations dated 08-06-2001 and 28-09-2001 and the respondent even did not choose to appear before the Legal Services Authority, though notice was issued, the petitioner approached this Court. Therefore, he seeks a direction to the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner and release the beneﬁts of the deceased to the petitioner, as the petitioner alone is the legal heir to the deceased family. It is also submitted that in support of the claim of the petitioner, the petitioner ﬁled a certificate dated 06-02-1984 issued by the Kadapa Railway Police certifying that the deceased died in harness, the death certiﬁcate issued by the Mandal Revenue Oﬃcler, Putlur, Anatapur District, the endorsement dated 29-01-2000 issued by a Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer, Putlur showing that the petitioner is the sole heir of the deceased, representations submitted by him to the respondents and the order dated 28-09-2001 of the Legal Services Authority. Learned counsel for the respondents submits that the respondents are strictly following the Boards Memo dated 21-02-1991 and even allowing two years from the date of death of the deceased, the petitioner is not entitled to employment on compassionate grounds. Admittedly the deceased was the employee in the respondents Board and he died in harness. After the death of the deceased no terminal beneﬁts have been released by the respondents. In view of the averments made in the counter aﬃdavit and also the submissions made by the learned counsel, it is clear that the petitioner is the son of the deceased and he was the minor at the time of the death of the deceased. The petitioner made representations enclosing the necessary documents seeking to grant monetary beneﬁts such as, family pension, gratuity, funeral expenses, leave salary, G.P.F and etc. But in the counter aﬃdavit it is stated that except the representation, the respondents have not received any papers with regard to the appointment on compassionate grounds. It is stated that since the petitioner did not make any representation within two years from the date of death of the deceased he is not eligible for appointment on compassionate grounds. Learned counsel for the petitioner is prepared to submit once again a representation enclosing all the necessary papers for grant of said pecuniary beneﬁts including seeking to provide employment on compassionate grounds. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case and the submissions made by the learned counsel the writ petition is disposed of with the following direction: The petitioner is directed to make fresh representation, enclosing all the necessary papers seeking to grant pecuniary beneﬁts, family pension etc., and employment on compassionate grounds, within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and on making such representation, the respondents are directed to pass appropriate orders, in accordance with law, within a period of two months from the date of receipt of such representation from the petitioner. Accordingly, with the above direction, the Writ Petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. _________________________ JUSTICE G. CHANDRAIAH Date: 17-10-2008 NOT E: Issue C.C. in a week. B/o. L SK