1. The Union of India, rep by its Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and IT, Sanchar Bhavan, 20 Ashoka Road, New Delhi 1. 2. The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Rep. by its Chairman cum Managing Director, BSNL Corporate Office, Barakumba Road, Statesman House, New Delhi1. 3. The Chief General Manager, Andhra Pradesh Telecom Circle (BSNL), Door Sanchar Bhavan, Nampally Station Road, Abids, Hyderabad 500001. 4. The General Manager Telecom District, BSNL, Nalgonda, Nalgonda District. ...Respondents (By Advocate: Mrs. K. Rajitha, Sr. PC for CG Mrs. T. Manjula, SC for BSNL) Page 1 of 5 OA/52/2017 ORAL ORDER (As per Hon'ble Dr. Lata Baswaraj Patne, Judicial Member) By this OA, the applicant sought the following relief: "......to declare the action of the respondents in treating the deceased mother of the applicant as a BSNL Recruitee and thereby granting only Gratuity and Leave Encashment and denying the family pension to the applicant who is widowed daughter and is dependent upon the mother of the applicant as illegal, arbitrary and violative of Article 14, 16 and 309 of the Constitution of India and rules on the subject matter and consequently declare that the applicant is entitled for family pension as the widowed daughter of the deceased employee as per the orders of the Government of India on the subject matter in the interest of justice, and be pleased to pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case." 2. The brief facts of the case are that the applicant is the daughter of Late Smt. R. Mallamma, who joined the erstwhile Indian Posts and Telegraph Department on 19.04.1978 as Part Time Casual Labourer and later regularized as Full Time Casual Labourer and then as Regular Mazdoor w.e.f. 10.01.2002 in the BSNL. While she was working as Regular Mazdoor, she died on 10.10.2015 after rendering about 13 years of regular service. After the death of the applicant's mother, the respondents have granted the benefits towards leave encashment, DCRG under the BSNL Gratuity Trust Rules and other benefits of Rs. 2,01,648/. 3. The learned counsel for the applicant contended that, though the applicant's mother died on 10.10.2015, the father of the applicant had pre deceased her on 14.09.1997. The applicant was married to one Shri Lingampally Bikshamaiah, who died on July 21, 2007. As such, during the Page 2 of 5 OA/52/2017 life time of the said R. Mallamma, mother of the applicant and the deceased employee, the applicant had become dependent on the mother. After the death of the mother, since all the other members of the family are married and live independently, and the applicant is the only person entitled to the family pension of the deceased employee, he submitted representations to the respondents and requested to grant family pension to her as per the orders of the Government of India on the subject matter. The respondents have not given any specific order. However, orally informed the applicant that, since the deceased employee was regularized w.e.f. 10.01.2002, in terms of the letter dated 10.01.2002, she has been treated as a BSNL recruitee, and as such, she is not entitled to any pension. Accordingly, the applicant is also not entitled to any family pension. Feeling aggrieved, the applicant has filed the present OA. 4. After Notice, the respondents have appeared through their counsel and filed reply opposing the relief on the ground that, admittedly, the applicant's mother services had been regularized in the year 2002 and as clarified by the BSNL, those casual laborers who were having temporary status prior to