CWP No.922 of 2009 (O&M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No.922 of 2009 (O&M) Decided on : 8.2.2011 Urmila Chopra ....Petitioner VERSUS State of Haryana and others ....Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER Present:- Mr. R.K.Malik, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Kohal Sharma, Advocate for the petitioner Mr. Harish Rathee, Sr. DAG, Haryana MAHESH GROVER, J With the consent of the parties, main case is taken up today for hearing. The issue raised in this writ petition before this Court is no longer res integra as the matter has been conclusively settled. The petitioner has been denied the benefit of family pension/monthly financial assistance only on the ground that her husband has not completed one year of regular service. This Court in CWP No. 8183 of 2009 has held on the basis of earlier precedent that merely because a person has not completed one year of regular service his legal heirs would not be disentitled to the grant of family pension as the employee while seeking employment had been subjected to the rigours of medical examination and had been granted employment only thereafter. The matter was agitated before Full Bench of CWP No.922 of 2009 (O&M) 2 this Court in LPA no. 1430 of 2009 when the matter was conclusively settled after the learned counsel for the State produced a letter in the proceedings before the Full Bench which reads as follows:- “Sub: Family Pension Scheme, 1964 – Clarification therein. I am directed to invite your attention on the subject cited above and to say that a number of communications have been received from various Associations/Pensioners seeking clarification regarding Note – I below para 4 (i) Appendix I of Family Pension Scheme, 1964. After careful consideration, it is clarified that where as Government servant dies before completion of one year of continuous service provided the deceased Government servant concerned immediately prior to his appointment to the service or post was examined by the appropriate medical authority and declared fit by that authority for Government service, the family of the deceased shall be entitled to Family Pension Scheme, 1964 and the expression continuous one year of service where ever it occurs in this note shall be construed to include less than one year of continuous service as defined above. The above instructions may please be brought to the notice of all concerned officials/officers for strict compliance. Sd/- Under Secy. Finance (Pension) For F.C & Principal Secy., to Govt. Hry. Finance Department.” CWP No.922 of 2009 (O&M) 3 On the basis of this, the Full Bench of this Court accorded a seal of approval to the policy of the respondents. In view of the aforesaid, there is hardly any occasion to deny the benefit of family pension/monthly financial assistance to the petitioner on the sole ground which has been set up that the husband of the petitioner was appointed as JBT Teacher on July, 2004 and died on 6th October, 2004 in harness when he had not completed one year. Hence, the petition is allowed and the respondents are directed to consider the case of the petitioner for grant of family pension/monthly financial assistance in view of the observations made above and in view of their own decision the extract of which has been reproduced in the forgoing paragraph. In view of above, all pending applications are also disposed of. February 08 , 2011 (Mahesh Grover) rekha Judge