Civil Writ Petition No. 10347 of 2009 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No. 10347 of 2009 Date of decision : 20.10.2011 Piara Singh Heer ....Petitioner V/s State of Punjab and others ....Respondents BEFORE : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA Present: Mr. R.K. Arora, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. B.S. Chahal, DAG Punjab. RAJAN GUPTA J. (ORAL) The petitioner has prayed for issuance of appropriate writ to release family pension to him w.e.f. 09.03.1991 as his wife who was in government service went missing on said date. Learned counsel for the petitioner has contended that whereabouts of his wife who was serving as a teacher in government school are not known since 09.03.1991 and thus the petitioner is entitled to family pension from the said date. According to him, the petitioner and his son preferred a civil suit before the court of Civil Judge (Jr. Division) at Jagraon wherein declaration was also granted on 11.10.2002 to the effect that wife of the petitioner be presumed to be dead. Learned State counsel submits that benefit of family pension has already been granted to the petitioner from the date of declaration by the civil court. According to him, petitioner did not lodge any FIR on 09.03.1991 or thereafter regarding disappearance of his wife. He filed a Civil Writ Petition No. 10347 of 2009 2 civil suit in year 2001 in which declaration was granted on 11.10.2002 and State has granted the benefit to him from the said date. He has also placed reliance on instructions, Annexure R-1 to contend that in case of government employees, family pension would be sanctioned from the date of expiry of one year after lodging of the FIR to this effect. I have heard learned counsel for the parties. Kamaljit Kaur, wife of the petitioner was serving as DPE in the Punjab Education Department. She was recruited in service on 20.12.1978 and remained posted at various places in districts Patiala and Ludhiana. According to averments made in the petition she disappeared on 09.03.1991 and was never found thereafter. The petitioner chose not to lodge any FIR. He, however, filed a civil suit in the year 2001 seeking declaration that his wife be presumed to be dead as she had not been heard of for last more than seven years. Civil suit was filed with a view to claim monetary benefits in view of disappearance of Kamaljit Kaur. The plea was accepted by Civil Judge (Jr. Division), Jagraon and declaration was granted on 11.10.2002 observing as under:- “7. In light of the cogent and legal evidence, suit of the plaintiff is, hereby, decreed for declaration to the effect that Kamaljit Kaur is presumed to be dead as she has not been heard of for the last more than 7 years by those who would have heard of her in natural course of life and they (the plaintiffs) are entitled to the amount in equal proportion i.e. 1/3rd each lying in the G.P. Fund of Kamaljit Kaur wife of Piara Singh on furnishing indemnity bond to the tune of Rs. 50,000/- by each of the applicants to meet out the claim of better claimant, if any. Decree sheet be drawn likewise. File be consigned to the record room. ” Civil Writ Petition No. 10347 of 2009 3 The petitioner now claims that the benefit of family pension should have been granted to him w.e.f. 09.03.1991 when his wife went missing. Admittedly, the petitioner never lodged any FIR regarding the incident either in the year 1991 or any time thereafter. He is only interested in the monetary benefits which flow as a result of disappearance of his wife almost two decades ago. According to instructions, Annexure R-1 relied upon by the State counsel, said benefit could have been granted on expiry of period of one year of the date of lodging of the FIR. There being no FIR in this case, the State government has granted the benefit of family pension from the date of declaration of the civil suit. I find no infirmity with the order passed by the State government. It is evident that declaration was granted by the civil court on 11.1.2002 on the ground that wife of the petitioner has not been heard of for preceding seven years from the date of declaration. Thus, there is no ground to grant benefit of family pension w.e.f. 09.03.1991 to the petitioner. The petition is without any merit and is hereby dismissed. October 20, 2011 (RAJAN GUPTA) Ajay JUDGE