IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.15608 of 2011 Smt.Renu Devi W/o Late Avinash Kumar Srivastava, Resident of Village/Mohalla Chitragupta Nagar, Kadirabad, Post Officwe Lalbagh, Police Station L.N.M.U. Campus, District Darbhanga. ... ... Petitioner. Versus 1. The State Of Bihar through the Secretary, Department of Revenue and Land Reforms, Govt. of Bihar, Patna. 2. Director, Land Records and Measurement, Bihar, Patna. 3. Settlement Officer, Survey Settlement Office, Darbhanga, Bihar. 4. Assistant Settlement Officer, Survey Settlement Office, Darbhanga, Bihar. 5. Treasury Officer, Darbhanga, Bihar. 6. Provident Fund Officer, Darbhanga, Bihar. ... ... Respondents. ---------------------------------- 3. 22.9.2011. Heard Shri Abhimanyu Sharma, learned counsel for the petitioner and Smt. Mohni Kumari, learned A.C. to S.C.14, who appears on behalf of all the respondents/State. The petitioner’s husband, while functioning as Upper Division Clerk at Darbhanga, died due to severe heart attack on 24.11.2007. The petitioner has alleged that till date, final family pension has not been fixed and instead she has been asked vide Memo No.1791-II dated 3.12.2010 issued by respondent no.4/Assitant Settlement officer, Survey Settlement Office, Darbhanga to execute an Indemnity Bond for settlement of family pension. The 2 petitioner has further prayed that till date, amount of Provident Fund of her husband has also not been paid only on the ground of non issuance of ‘No Due Certificate’. Neither the final family pension has been fixed nor payment in respect of G.P.F. has been made. In this case, a counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of respondent nos.3 and 4. It has been alleged by the respondents that husband of the petitioner was earlier posted as Clerk and while he was transferred from Darbhanga Settlement Office to Bhojpur at Ara, he had not given charge of the godown of settlement office situated in Darbhanga Raj Campus. It has further been asserted that on30.12.2010, an inventory of the said godown was prepared and report has been submitted to Sub Divisional Officer, Sadar, Darbhanga on 5.7.2011. On the basis of inventory report, physical verification was required to be made to find out as to whether any articles were missing or not. From the averment made in the counter affidavit, it is evident that till 3 date, it has not been established as to whether there was any shortage in the godown or not. Fact remains that death of the husband of the petitioner had occurred in the year 2007 and till date, no irregularity has been established. In that view of the matter, payment of final pension cannot be delayed indefinitely. Similarly, the respondents have admitted that amount of G.P.F. has not been paid and same is under process for settlement after adjustment of the advance taken by the husband of the petitioner. In view of admitted position, there is no difficulty to direct the respondents, particularly respondent no.6 to pay the amount of G.P.F. with admissible statutory interest after adjusting the advance amount within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. In view of the facts and circumstances and the fact that death of the husband of the petitioner had occurred long back in the year 2007 that too during his service period, the order contained in 4 Annexure-3 directing the petitioner to furnish indemnity bond is not sustainable in the eye of law and is hereby set aside. The respondents are further directed to take all steps so that full family pension may be fixed and paid to the petitioner with arrear within a period of two months from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. With above observation and direction, the writ petition stands allowed. N.H./ ( Rakesh Kumar,J.)