C.W.P. No.11461 of 2009 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. C.W.P. No.11461 of 2009 Date of Decision: 08.11.2011 Smt. Vimla Dhankar ....Petitioner Versus CCS, HAU Hisar and another ...Respondents CORAM : Hon'ble Ms. Justice Nirmaljit Kaur Present:- Mr. Gunjan Mehta, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Vinod S. Bhardwaj, Advocate for the respondents. ***** 1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest ? ** NIRMALJIT KAUR, J. The prayer of the petitioner in the present petition is for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to grant ex-gratia benefits to the petitioner under `The Haryana Compassionate Assistance to Dependents of Deceased Government Employees Rules, 2006' (Annexure P-2) with a further prayer for quashing the order dated 08.01.2009 (Annexure P-12), whereby, the case of the petitioner for consideration of ex-gratia benefits under `Ex-gratia Rules, 2006' has been rejected. The facts, in short, are that the petitioner's husband had expired on 03.02.2005. The petitioner applied for the ex-gratia grant under `Ex-gratia Rules 2006' vide an application dated 12.03.2007 (Annexure P- C.W.P. No.11461 of 2009 2 8). An amount of Rs.2.5 lacs was released as payment towards Ex-gratia Compassionate Assistance in favour of the petitioner on 18.01.2008 vide Annexure P-10. The petitioner had accepted the said amount but she had made another reminder for claiming the monthly assistance as per the provisions of `Ex-gratia Rules, 2006.' However, the respondent-University, vide letter dated 08.01.2009, informed the petitioner that her case for pending Ex-gratia dues as per `Ex-gratia Rules, 2006' has been rejected. Reply has been filed. The Rules 2006 came into effect on 01.08.2006 for category of C & D employees and 24.11.2006 for Category A & B employees. The husband of the petitioner had expired on 03.03.2005 and the petitioner had opted for Ex-gratia Financial Assistance on 03.04.2006. As per the written statement, according to Rules, 2005, a person can seek employment or lump sum financial assistance. The petitioner had already been paid Rs.2.5 lacs on 18.01.2008 and since, the financial assistance has already been released to her as per 2005 Rules, she is not entitled to any other relief, whereas, the Haryana Compassionate Assistance to the Dependent of Deceased Govt. Employees Rules 2006 were also notified and the State of Haryana issued notification dated 01.08.2006 notifying therein the Haryana Compassionate Assistance to the Dependent of deceased Govt. Employees Rules 2006 (here-in-after called the 2006 Rules). 2003 Rules as well as 2005 Rules were repealed. As per the 2006 Rules that on the death of any Govt. employee, the family of the employee would continue to receive as financial assistance a sum equal to the pay and other allowances that was last drawn by the deceased employee in normal course. It was also decided in 2006 Rules that all pending cases of ex-gratia assistance shall be covered under the new rules. However, the families will have the option to opt for lump sum ex-gratia grant provided in 2003 rules or 2005 rules, as the case may be in lieu of the monthly financial assistance. C.W.P. No.11461 of 2009 3 Learned counsel for the respondents have relied on the judgment of Division Bench of this Court in the case titled as Lalita Sharma vs. State of Haryana and others reported as 2009(1) RSJ 354, vide which, it was held that the policy at the time of the death of an employee will be applicable. The same does not help the respondents as one of the question in that case was as under :- “ 9. xxx xxx xxx (a) Which of the policies is applicable to the dependents of deceased Government employee, whether the policy prevalent at the time of death of deceased or the policy prevalent at the time of deciding the case for grant of ex-gratia employment?” Thus, the same was only for the purpose of considering the grant of ex-gratia employment in terms of 2006 Policy, whereas, in the present case, the prayer is for the grant of ex-gratia financial assistance and for that para 16 of the said judgment would be relevant which reads thus ; “ 16. So far as the relief of financial assistance in respect of dependent of Government employee who died prior to 4.3.2003 is concerned, there was no provision in any of the instructions/policy issued by the Government for grant of financial assistance. So, the Government employee who died prior to 4.3.2003, his/her dependents are not entitled to compassionate assistance. However, the dependents of Government employees whose bread winner died after 4.3.2003, are entitled to financial assistance under the schemes of 2003, 2005 and 2006 whichever is applicable to the dependents provided they fulfill the conditions laid down under the said schemes. There is no reason for withholding the relief of financial assistance to the dependents of Government employee who died after C.W.P. No.11461 of 2009 4 28.2.2003 in case their case is covered under any of the schemes, referred to above. So, we have no hesitation in holding that in case the Government employee has died after 4.3.2003, in that case, the petitioners are entitled to financial assistance, according to the scheme applicable to them, as discussed above.” It is also not disputed that as per Clause 6 of the Haryana Compassionate Assistance to the Dependents of Deceased Govt. Employees Rules 2006 issued vide notification dated 01.08.2006, the said Rules are applicable to all pending cases. The same reads as under :- “Pending Cases 6. All pending cases of ex-gratia assistance shall be covered under the new rules. The calculation of the period and payment shall be made to such cases from the date of notification of these rules. However, the families will have the option to opt for the lump sum ex-gratia provided in the Rules, 2003 or 2005, as the case may be, in lieu of the monthly financial assistance provided under the Haryana Compassionate Assistance to the Dependents of the Deceased Government Employees Rules, 2006.” No doubt, the husband of the petitioner died on 03.03.2005 but, however, her case was pending. An amount of Rs.2.5 lacs was released to her as late as on 18.01.2008. As such, the case of the petitioner was pending when 2006 Rules came into being. The case of the petitioner was, admittedly, under active consideration of the University authorities as it is only on 28.01.2008 that an amount of Rs.2.5 lacs was sent to her even when the representation of the petitioner for claiming the benefit of `Ex-gratia Rules 2006' was pending with the respondents. In view of the above, the present petition is allowed and the order dated 08.01.2009 (Annexure P-12), whereby, the case of the petitioner for consideration of ex-gratia benefits under `Ex-gratia Rules, 2006' has been rejected, is set aside and the respondents are, accordingly, C.W.P. No.11461 of 2009 5 directed to grant monthly financial assistance as per the `The Haryana Compassionate Assistance to Dependents of Deceased Government Employees Rules, 2006' instead of Rs.2.5 lacs already paid which shall be adjusted as expeditiously as possible preferably within three months from the date of receipt of this order. (NIRMALJIT KAUR) 08.11.2011 JUDGE gurpreet