IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ANTONY DOMINIC THURSDAY, THE 22ND OCTOBER 2009 / 30TH ASWINA 1931 WP(C).No. 26281 of 2003(D) -------------------------- PETITIONER(S): --------------------- A.SARASWATHY AMMA, W/O.LATE S.ACHUTHA WARRIAR, AGED 73, VARUVILAKATHU PUTHEN VEEDU, KURISUMUTTOM, PALLIMUKKU, PEYAD P.O., THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. BY ADV. SRI.THIRUMALA P.K.MANI SRI.ZAKEER HUSAIN M.K. RESPONDENT(S): --------------------- 1. STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY CHIEF SECRETARY, GOVT.SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. 2. EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, P.W.D.MECHANIC DIVISION, O/O THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. 3. ACCOUNTANT GENERAL (A & E), O/O THE ACCOUNTANT GENERAL, KERALA, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. GOVERNMENT PLEADER SRI.ANTONY MUKATH THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 22/10/2009, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: WPC NO.26281/03 APPENDIX PETITIONER'S EXHIBITS EXT.P1: TRUE COPY OF JUDGMENT DATED 13.2.2002 IN OP NO.10896/93. EXT.P2: TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER DT 23.1.02 OF 2ND RESPONDENT. EXT.P3: TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER DT 20.6.03 OF 3RD RESPONDENT. //TRUE COPY// P.A. TO JUDGE Rp ANTONY DOMINIC, J. ================ W.P.(C) NO. 26281 OF 2003 (D) ===================== Dated this the 22nd day of October, 2009 J U D G M E N T Petitioner is the wife of Late Sri.S.Achutha Warrier. According to the petitioner, Sri.S.Achutha Warrier joined service as a C Grade Mechanic in the Government Engineering Workshop on 16/5/46 and on the abolition of Wright Section w.e.f. 6/8/1963, his services were terminated. Thereafter on 2/1/64, Sri.S.Achutha Warrier joined as First Grade Steel Mechanic in NMR service at the Regional Workshop Division, Kollakkadavu from where he retired on 23/10/74. On his retirement, Sri.S.Achutha Warrier claimed pension, but that was rejected on the ground that he did not have sufficient qualifying service. While so, Sri.S.Achutha Warrier breathed his last on 11/9/84. 2. Petitioner applied for family pension, but that was also rejected. Challenging the rejection of her application for family pension, she approached this Court by filing OP No.10896/93. That original petition was disposed of by Ext.P1 judgment dated 13/2/2002 directing the Assistant Executive Engineer to reconsider the claim of the petitioner with notice to her. WPC 26281/03 :2 : Accordingly, an enquiry was held and Ext.P2 order was passed on 23/1/2003 by which the Assistant Executive Engineer informed the Accountant General that a detailed pension calculation statement including the break of service period of the deceased are enclosed for verification and for issuing authorisation for family pension. The enclosed calculation of qualifying service shows that according to the Assistant Executive Engineer, the petitioner's husband had rendered a qualifying service of 28 years. Accepting Ext.P2 report, by Ext.P3, monthly family pension of Rs.1275/- effective from 13/2/2002 was sanctioned by the Accountant General. It is thereupon that this writ petition is filed. 3. The contentions of the petitioner are two fold. One is that in Ext.P2, the fact that the deceased had qualifying service of 28 years has been accepted and therefore pension ought to have been granted to the deceased from 1974 when he retired from service. It is further contended that she being the widow of the pensioner, ought to have been granted family pension from 1984, when Sri.S.Achutha Warrier expired. 4. Admittedly, in Ext.P2, it has been found that the deceased had qualifying service of 28 years. If that be so, WPC 26281/03 :3 : pension ought to have been paid to the deceased on his retirement. However, fact remains that the deceased himself had claimed pension and that claim was rejected and the deceased did not challenge such rejection. The petitioner raised the dispute only on rejection of her claim for family pension, for which she became eligible only on the death of the Government servant. 5. OP No.10896/1993 was filed only in 1993. The cause of action for arrears of pension payable to the deceased, which was due from 1974 to 1984, when the Government servant expired, had by then become time barred. Even in respect of the family pension, though the cause of action is a recurring one, the maximum that the petitioner could have claimed is arrears for the immediately preceding three years from the date of filing the OP and the claim for the prior period also had become time barred by the time the original petition was filed. Therefore, the entitlement of the petitioner is only for arrears of family pension for the immediately preceding three years reckoned from the date on which she filed OP No.10896/93. Therefore, the maximum that the petitioner can claim in this writ petition is arrears for the aforesaid three years and for the period subsequent till 13.2.2002. WPC 26281/03 :4 : 6. In view of the above, I declare that the petitioner is eligible for arrears of family pension for the aforesaid three years from 11.8.1993 when OP No.10896/1993 was filed and till 13/2/2002, the date specified in Ext.P3 order of the Accountant General. Therefore, the writ petition is disposed of directing that the respondents shall pay arrears of family pension to the petitioner for the period from 11/08/93 till 13/2/2002. This shall be done, as expeditiously as possible, at any rate within 3 months of production of a copy of this judgment. ANTONY DOMINIC, JUDGE Rp