IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE FIRST DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 13738 of 2008 Between: Aziz Bee W/o.Rajuddin R/o.19-5-29/51/E, Mahood Nagar, Kishan Bagh, Hyderabad. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Joint Director, Pension Payment Officer, M.J.Road, Hyderabad. 2 The Assistant Pension Payment Officer, Chandrayangutta, Hyderabad. 3 Syndicate Bank, Bahadurpura Branch, Rep. by its Branch Manager. ...RESPONDENTS 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 an order, direction or Writ more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the 1st and 2nd respondents in not releasing the pension to the petitioner is illegal, arbitrary and unjust and consequently direct the 1st and 2nd respondent to release the pension w.e.f. December, 2007 and pass such further other order or orders. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.G.RAVI MOHAN Counsel for the Respondents.: GP FOR FINANCE & PLANNING The Court made the following : ORDER: The petitioner claims to be the second wife of one Tajuddin, who is a government employee, retired on 31.1.2001, and consequent to his retirement, he was being paid pension through the 3rd respondent bank. It is her case that her husband died on 20.11.2007 and she informed about his death to the authorities in the ﬁrst week of December, 2007 and made an application to pay pension to her. Thereafter respondents 1 and 2 intimated her that her husband has obtained a personal loan and, therefore, if she refunds the loan amount, they would release the pension. As she was not in a position to pay the loan amount, made a representation requesting the authorities to deduct the loan amount from her pension,which would be released and accordingly opened an account with the 3rd respondent Bank. The grievance of the petitioner is that respondents 1 and 2 are not releasing the pension on the ground that until the 3rd respondent refunds the excess amount paid to her husband, they would not release the pension. It is also stated that the 3rd respondent is neither returning the amount lying in her husband’s account nor accepting her application for deducting the loan amount from her pension. Hence this writ petition. The details with regard to the excess amount paid to the husband of the petitioner and the return of the amount is not necessary for the purpose of deciding the issue in this writ petition. The writ petition is ﬁled by the petitioner seeking a direction to respondents 1 and 2 to release the pension payable to her consequent to the death of her husband. Initially a counter aﬃdavit is ﬁled by the 2nd respondent – Assistant Pension Payment Oﬃcer. After narrating about the amounts paid to the pensioner, it is admitted that on 8.4.2008, an aﬃdavit is ﬁled by one Smt.Jaheera Bee stating to be the 3rd wife of the pensioner, to the eﬀect that she has no objection if her husband’s pension is paid to the second wife. It is further stated in the counter aﬃdavit that the Director of Local Fund Audit, A.P. Hyderabad has authorized the ﬁrst wife to receive the pension and not the second wife, the petitioner herein and that respondents 1 and 2 have no connection with the loan availed by the pensioner with the 3rd respondent bank and that petitioner has to settle the loan with the bank and that the bank has not refunded the excess amount paid to the pensioner so far. Subsequently, an additional counter aﬃdavit is ﬁled by the second respondent, inter alia stating as under; “T he Joint Director, Pension Payment Oﬃce, Hyderabad and Assistant Pension Payment Oﬃcer, Chandrayangutta, Hyderabad are not the pension sanctioning authority, they are only pension payment oﬃcers and to pay as per authorization received from Director of Local Fund, Hyderabad in respect of last grade pensioner’s and Accountant General, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad for superior service pensioners. It is further submitted that the petitioner has to submit her pension papers to Head Mistress, Government Bous Upper Primary School, Mustaidpura, Hyderabad, where pensioner has last worked through the Deputy Inspector of Schools, Mustaidpura, Hyderabad, Range-II. T he Deputy Inspector of Schools will sanction the pension and same will be sent to the Director of State Audit, Hyderabad who is competent authority to issue authorization of pension. On receipt of authorization from Director, State Audit, the 1st respondent will pay the pension to the pensioner.” In view of the above averments, it is evident that the petitioner has to submit her pension papers to the Head Mistress, Government Boys Upper Primary School, where the pensioner last worked and from there the papers will be processed and forwarded to the concerned oﬃcials as narrated in para 6 of the additional counter affidavit. In view of the above, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner will submit the papers as stated above. In the circumstances, petitioner is directed to submit the papers to the Head Mistress, Government Boys Upper Primary School who shall process and forward the application to the concerned authorities in accordance with the procedure enumerated in the additional counter affidavit. With the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of . No costs. N.V.RAMANA,J DT.1.8.2008 msv ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1 The Joint Director, Pension Payment Officer, M.J.Road, Hyderabad. 2 The Assistant Pension Payment Officer, Chandrayangutta, Hyderabad. 3 2CCs to Govt.Pleader for Finance and Planning, High Court of A.P. Hyderabad. 4 2CD copies