IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.15354 of 2008 ***** 1. Union of India through the Divisional Railway Manager, Central Eastern Railway, Munger. 2. The General Manager, Central Eastern Railway, Hajipur. 3. The Chairman, Railway Board, Rail Bhawan, New Delhi. 4. The Divisional Personnel Officer, East Central Railway, Samastipur. …. …. Petitioners Versus Hafizan Khatoon wife of Late Khalil Mian, resident of village Line Sugauli, P.O. & P.S. Sugauli, District East Champaran (Bihar). …. …. Respondent ----------- For the Petitioners : Mr. Bijoy Kumar Sinha, Advocate ------------ P R E S E N T Hon'ble the Chief Justice & Hon'ble Mr. Justice Kishore K. Mandal ------------ Dated, the 16th October, 2008. We heard the counsel for the petitioners and perused the order passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal. 2. The Tribunal considered the matter thus: - “After carefully reading the order of the District Judge, I am fully convinced that the applicant Hafizan Khatoon is indeed the first wife of the deceased Khalil Mian and now she is the only widow of Khalil Mian because the second wife has also died. So there could not be an iota of doubt that she being the only widow (that too the first wife) of the deceased railway employee is fully entitled to get family pension.” 3. As a matter of fact, this writ petition was avoidable and petitioners should have been well advised in not - 2 - spending public money in this avoidable litigation. The pitiable condition of the respondent has been noticed by the Tribunal, thus: - “The applicant is 75 years old and she walks on crutches. Her husband has died and she has no son. She is not getting any family pension from the respondents railways which is an affluent big department of Govt. of India. The story of this applicant indeed indicates the pitiable condition of a woman in rural India, specially if she is childless or sonless and if she is born in an uneducated poor family. She does not get anything from the society she lives in and when she interacts for help with the Govt., she faces the hostility of a heartless bureaucracy which is not interested in giving any genuine relief to any one – but is interested only in picking holes in every proposition.” 4. Be that as it may, since the respondent (original applicant) has been found to be the first wife of the deceased employee and the only widow, the order of grant of family pension to her cannot be said to suffer from any legal flaw. 5. Writ petition does not deserve to be admitted. It is dismissed in limine. R. M. Lodha, CJ Kishore K. Mandal, J Pawan/-