IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 14388 of 2008 Between: Moddam Lakshimi W/o late Yellaiah Moddam, R/o H. No. 16-80, Gandlapet Village, Morthad Mandal, Nizamabad District. ..... PETITIONER AND The District Collector Nizamabad, Nizamabad district. .....RESPONDENT 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 a writ, order or direction to more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus to declaring memo no. C4/1397/2008 dated 3-04-2008 issued by the respondent as illegal against settled principles of law and consequently direct the respondent herein to release the death compensation amount which is received by the respondent herein on the account of death of petitioner husband late Yellaiah Moddam, without furnishing succession certificate and pass such order or orders. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.V.BRAHMAIAH CHOWDARY Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR REVENUE The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is filed by the petitioner stating that her husband late Yellaiah Moddam while working at Dubai, as a skilled worker, in Wade Adams Contracting Company (LLC), died in a traffic accident on 10.8.2007 and for his death, the company settled compensation according to UAE laws at Rs.26,49,174/-. The said amount was received by the District Collector, Nizamabad, the respondent herein from the office of Consulate General of India, Dubai (UAE) on 12.3.2008 for disbursing the same to the legal heirs of late Yellaiah Moddam. It is her case that after receiving the said amount, the respondent herein has informed her through proceedings dated 3.4.2008 to obtain succession certificate from the Court in order to release the said amount in her favour. The grievance of the petitioner is that succession certificate is only required in respect of debts and securities to which a deceased was entitled and since the amount received by the respondent is the compensation for the death of her husband at Dubai, the production of succession certificate is not necessary. In support of her contention, she placed reliance on the judgment of the Apex Court reported Rukhsana v. Nazrunnisa [1] wherein the Apex Court held that the compensation sanctioned on account of the death of the deceased is not an asset belonging to the deceased but an amount which the legal representatives of the deceased can claim on their own account and that the civil court will only decide as to who are the legal representatives and what shares they are entitled to as per the personal law applicable to them. Hence this writ petition. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned Government Pleader for Revenue and perused the material made available on record. Though the writ petition was filed on 3.7.2008, no counter affidavit is filed by the respondents. Today, when the case is taken up, the learned Government Pleader for Revenue, on instructions, submits that several similar cases came up for consideration before the Collector, Karimnagar and considering the circumstances, the District Collector, Karimnagar issued a circular to the Tahsildars of that District to the effect that he has decided for disbursement of legal dues to the concerned on the basis of Family Members/Dependant Certificates issued by the Tahsildar concerned and, therefore, the Tahsidlars were directed to identify the dependant family members of the deceased person concerned by duly conducting local enquiry and arrange to send family members certificate along with ration card for disbursement of death dues. Following the said circular, the compensation amounts were paid to the persons in Karimnagar District. It is submitted by the learned Government Pleader that since the present case is also similar to the cases in Karimnagar District wherein compensations were paid following the circular mentioned above, a direction may be given to the District Collector, Nizamabad, the respondent herein, to issue necessary directions to the concerned in the same lines, for which course of action, the learned counsel for the petitioner also agreed. In the circumstances, the District Collector, Nizamabad is directed to give necessary instructions to the Tahsildar, Mortad Mandal to identify the dependants of the deceased Yellaiah Moddam by conducting local enquiry and arrange to send family members certificate along with ration card, basing on which the District Collector shall take necessary action for the disbursement of the legal/death dues received from Dubai for the death of the deceased. With the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of. No costs. N.V.RAMANA,J Dt.25.11.2008 Note: Furnish CC in two days (B/o) msv [1] (2000) 9 SCC 240