IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE T.R.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR WEDNESDAY, THE 9TH FEBRUARY 2011 / 20TH MAGHA 1932 WP(C).No. 28681 of 2004(M) ----------------------- PETITIONER : -------------------- SATHEENDRAN, S/O. NARAYANAN, AGED 56, LABOURER, RESIDING AT TC.36/203, MADATHUVILAKOM PANAYIL VEEDU, PALKULANGARA, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. BY ADV. SRI.P.S.VASAVAN PILLAI RESPONDENT(S): ------------------------- 1. THE SECRETARY, LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENTDEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT OF KERALA, SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. 2. THE SECRETARY, CORPORATION OF THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. R1 BY GOVT. PLEADER SRI. L.G. SURESH BABU R2 BY ADV. SRI.N.NANDAKUMARA MENON, SC, TVM CORPN. THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 09/02/2011, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: Mn ...2/- WP(C).No. 28681 of 2004(M) APPENDIX PETITIONER'S EXHIBITS: EXT.P1 : COPY OF DEATH CERTIFICATE OF MR. NARAYANAN DATED 28.2.1980. EXT.P2 : COPY OF REPRESENTATION OF SMT. LATE KALYANI DATED 18-11-1996. EXT.P3 : COPY OF REPRESENTATION OF SMT. KALYANI AND CHILDREN DATED 18-03-1999. EXT.P4 : COPY OF REPRESENTATION OF SMT. LATE KALYANI DATED 13-4-1999. . EXT.P5 : ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT OF REPRESENTATION OF SMT. LATE KALYANI DATED 24-8-1998. EXT.P6 : COPY OF LETTER DATED 23-9-1998 FROM THIRUVANANTHAPURAM CORPORATION. EXT.P7 : COPY OF LETTER DATED 22-4-99 FROM CORPORATION OF THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. EXT.P8 : COPY OF LETTER DATED 22-4-03 FROM THE CORPORATION OF THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. EXT.P9 : COPY OF LETTER NO. 5065 DATED 28-7-56 FROM CORPORATION TO REVENUE INSPECTOR, CIRCLE I. EXT.P10 : COPY OF REPRESENTATION DATED 22-5-2000 OF PETITIONR TO THE SECRETARY, CORPORATION OF TRIVANDRUM. ANNEXURES: ANNEXURE - I : PHOTOSTAT COPY OF THE LETTER NO. GE3/51356/94 DATED 21-1-1997 ISSUED BY THE SECRETARY, CORPORATION OF THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. ANNEXURE - II : PHOTOSTAT COPY OF THE REPLY SUBMITTED BY SMT. K. KALYANI TO ANNEXURE-I DATED 24-8-1998 BEFORE THE SECRETARY, CORPORATION OF THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. ANNEXURE - III : PHOTOSTAT COPY OF THE COMMUNICATION NO. GE3-51356/96 DATED 23-9-1998 ISSUED BY THE SECRETARY, CORPORATION OF THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. Contd... ANNEXURE - IV : PHOTOSTAT COPY OF THE COMMUNICATION NO. G.E3/51356/96 DATED 25-2-99 ISSUED BY THE SECRETARY, CORPORATION OF THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. ANNEXURE - V : PHOTOSTAT COPY OF THE HERSHIP CERTIFICATE ISSUED TO SMT. K. KALYANI BY TAHSILDAR, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM TALUK, DATED 30-7-1999 NO. K.DIS.G2.407/97. ANNEXURE - VI : PHOTOSTAT COPY OF THE LETTER NO. GE3/51356/96 DATED 6-3-2000 ISSUED BY THE SECRETARY, CORPORATION OF THIRUVANANTHAPURAM TO THE DEPUTY EXAMINER, LOCAL FUND ACCOUNTS, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. RESPONDENT'S EXHIBITS - NIL //TRUE COPY// P.A. TO JUDGE Mn T.R.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR, J. --------------------------------------------------------- W.P.(C) NO. 28681 OF 2004 -------------------------------------------------------- Dated this the 9th day of February, 2011. JUDGMENT The petitioner seeks for a direction to the respondents to disburse to the petitioner the arrears on account of the family pension due to his deceased mother Kalyani without any delay. The father of the petitioner K.Narayanan was an employee of the Municipal Corporation of Thiruvananthapuram. He died on 29.4.1963. He left behind him as legal heirs by his wife Kalyani and 6 children including the petitioner. It is stated that the widow of the deceased was entitled to get family pension, and also retirement benefits like gratuity etc. The widow had been representing the matter before the Corporation as evidenced from Exts.P2, P3 and P4 representations. Aggrieved by the delay in the matter the writ petition has been filed. 2. A counter statement has been filed by the Corporation. It is stated that the deceased widow Smt.Kalyani, submitted an application before the Corporation for family pension 33 years after the death of K.Narayanan. It was submitted on 29.12.1996. On verification of the application it was found that there are no records to show that Shri.K.Narayanan had worked in the Corporation. Therefore the widow was directed to produce the W.P.(C) NO. 28681 OF 2004 2 details by Annexure-1 letter. The subsequent communications have been produced as Annexure-2 & 3. It is further pointed out that the pension scheme under the Municipal Service came to force with effect from 21.6.1964. Before coming into force of the above scheme the pension to the retired employees of the Municipalities was being disbursed from the Government Treasury. But even at that time Family Pension was not being sanctioned to dependents of deceased employees of the Municipality. The above benefit was extended to the employees only as per G.O(MS)No.16/99 dated 20.1.1999 issued by the State Government. It is further pointed out in paragraph 4 that it took sometime to trace out the service records of employees who had gone out of service long ago. It is submitted in paragraph 6 after getting documents Corporation took immediate steps for transmitting the relevant documents to the Deputy Director of Local Fund Audit on 5.12.2000 as per Annexure IV letter. It is also stated that if a proper application was submitted by Smt.Kalyani on 2.2.1999, the Family Pension due to her till 15.9.1999, the date on which she expired could have been sanctioned by the Local Fund Audit. It is pointed out that, Local Fund Audit and Director of Urban Affairs are not parties to the writ petition. W.P.(C) NO. 28681 OF 2004 3 3. The mother of the petitioner is no more. There is no reason for delaying the matter further. The legal heirs should get whatever is due. There will be a direction to the 1st respondent to see that the competent officer of the Local Fund Audit will forward the documents to the Director of Urban Affairs if not already done, within one month from the date of receipt of this judgment. Within a further period of 2 months thereafter the Director of Urban Affairs will take appropriate decision for sanction of eligible benefits to the legal heirs of the deceased Shri.K.Narayanan and Kalyani. 4. The Registry will communicate a copy of this judgment to the 1st respondent for compliance. No costs. The writ petition is accordingly disposed. T.R.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR, JUDGE mns