IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.4565 of 2007 1. KAUSHALLYA DEVI, widow of late Sheo nandan Ram, resident of village-Imalia, P.O.-Deodaha, P.S.- Dhanaura, district-Patna. 2. Smt. Shanti Devi W/o- late Sheo Nandan Ram Village-Imalia P.O.-Deodaha P.s. Dhanrua, District- Patna. Versus 1. THE STATE OF BIHAR, through the Secretary-cum- Director, Statistical and Mulyanka Department, Bihar, Patna. 2. The Accountant General, Finance Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna. 3. The Joint Directorate, Statistical and Mulyankant Department, Bihar, Patna. ----------- 6 13.04.2010 Heard Mr. Ram Sumiran Rai, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. Mani Kant Mishra, learned A.C. to G.A.21 for the State and Mr. B.K. Labh, learned counsel for the Accountant General. The writ petition was originally filed by one Smt. Kaushallya Devi, claiming payment of death-cum-post retiral dues of her late husband, Sheonandan Ram, who had gone traceless since after 1976. During the course of proceeding, an objection came to be raised that the petitioner was the second wife of late Sheonandan Ram and since the first wife herself was alive, hence she was not entitled for any family pension or other death-cum- retiral benefits. 2 Faced with such situation, an interlocutory application bearing I.A.No.6545 of 2009 came to be filed seeking permission of this Court to implead Smt. Shanti Devi, the first wife of late Sheonandan Ram. The interlocutory application was allowed and by order dated 26.10.2009 passed in the present proceeding Smt. Shanti Devi was permitted to be impleaded as a co-petitioner No.2 in the present proceedings. A counter affidavit was then filed on behalf of the State and its authorities and in which it was stated that vide letter bearing No. 2606 dated 24.11.2009 Smt. Shanti Devi, widow of late Sheonandan Ram, the missing employee, was directed to submit requisite papers supporting and certifying her identity. Pursuant to the direction contained in the letter dated 24.11.2009 the petitioner presented herself with supportive documents demonstrating that she was the widow of late Sheonandan Ram. By order dated 11.2.2010 the respondent authorities were directed to finalize the pension claim of Shanti Devi and pay the same 3 together with admissible interest thereon. It was further directed that the pension and gratuity papers be forwarded to the Accountant General for authorization of the same and who in turn was directed to accord authorization without any further delay. It so appears that the respondents being aggrieved by the order passed on 11.2.2010 requiring them to pay the admissible dues with admissible interest filed a Letters Patent Appeal giving rise to L.P.A. No. 546 of 2010 and which was permitted to be withdrawn with liberty to the appellant, (the respondent herein) to file an application for review of the order dated 11.2.2010. In the light of the liberty aforesaid, an interlocutory application vide No. 3156 of 2010 has been filed for review/modification of the interim order dated 11.2.2010. The order dated 11.2.2010 is admittedly in the nature of an interim order and as the matter has been taken up for final disposal, the same requires no modification. At the same time I would also like to observe that the matter is unnecessarily being 4 delayed at the level of the Joint Director (Administration) Planning and Development, Government of Bihar, Patna on pretext of production of documents certifying the identity of Shanti Devi as wife of late Sheo Nandan Ram. The only claim to family pension and death-cum-retiral benefits in relation to Sheo Nandan Ram came to be raised by Kaushallya Devi and who herself brought on record the petitioner No.2, Smt. Shanti Devi as the first wife of late Sheonandan Ram. In order to facilitate the process of identification of the petitioner No.2, I directed learned counsel to enclose all the documents in the possession of the petitioner No.2, Smt. Shanti Devi substantiating her identity as a widow of Sheonandan Ram and pursuant whereto a second supplementary affidavit has been filed enclosing documents certifying the identity of Shanti Devi, placed at Annexure-13 series of the said affidavit. The petitioner has enclosed a certificate of the Deputy Collector, Land Reforms, Masaurhi dated 5th March, 2010, certifying the left thumb impression of Shanti Devi, wife of 5 Sheo Nandan Ram. A residential certificate dated 9.1.2010 issued by Block Development Officer, Dhanarua, Patna attested by Deputy Collector, Land Reforms, Masaurhi is also enclosed. The petitioner has also enclosed a duly filled pension form as required by the respondents which again contains attestation by the Deputy Development Commissioner, Jehanabad. Annexure-14, is a certificate dated 16.3.2010 of the Assistant Sub-Inspector of the local police Station certifying, Shanti Devi as a widow of Sheo Nandan Ram. Apart from the aforesaid documents the petitioner had also placed on record the indemnity bond dated 2.1.2010 undertaking to indemnify in case of there being any counter claim. The aforesaid documents placed in the present proceeding are sufficient evidence of the identity of petitioner Shanti Devi as widow of Sheo Nandan Ram and which entitles her to claim the family pension in relation to the traceless employee and other death-cum- retiral benefits as found admissible. In the circumstances, the Joint Director, (Administration) Planning and Development 6 Department, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Bihar, Patna is directed to process the pension claim of the petitioner within four weeks from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order and forward the same to the Accountant General for issuance authorization and who would be under a duty to accord authorization without causing further delay and preferably within two weeks of its receipt and whereupon the family pension and other death-cum-retiral benefits of the petitioner together with statutory interest, as found admissible should be paid to her . This disposes of the writ petition as well as the interlocutory application bearing I.A.No. 3156 of 2010. Bibhash (Jyoti Saran, J.)