1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 6946 OF 2007 Mr. Shaikh Fakir Bagwan & Anr. ..... Petitioners. V/s State of Maharashtra & Ors. ..... Respondents. ----- Mr. Ashok M. Joshi for the Petitioners. Mr. A. Patel, AGP for the Respondents - State. ---- CORAM : D.K. DESHMUKH & V.M. KANADE, JJ. DATE : 8th January, 2008 P.C.: 1. The father and mother of the deceased employee challenged the constitutional validity of the definition of the term “Family” appearing in Maharashtra Civil Service (Pension) Rules, 1982 inasmuch as the father and mother are not included in the definition of family of a Government Servant. 2. The learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioners submits that exclusion of father and mother from the definition of the family of the Government Servant is arbitrary because father and mother are dependent on the Government Servant and, therefore, according to him, it violates the guarantee of Article 14 of the Constitution. 2 3. Perusal of the definition of the term “Family” shows that the subject of dependence does not appear to be the guiding principle. In the definition, wife is included irrespective of the fact whether she is dependent on the Government Servant or not. Similarly, separated wife is also included. The son, who has not attained the age of 21 years, is also included. In our opinion, this is a matter of legislative policy to include certain kind of relatives in the definition of family. The definition of family is adopted by the legislature for different purposes by including different type of relatives. The definition is included in the statute for the legislative scheme of a particular enactment. We do not see any element of arbitrariness. Petition is, therefore, rejected. (D.K. DESHMUKH, J.) (V.M. KANADE, J.) 3