Extraordinary pension requires Governor's sanction under the Uttar Pradesh Civil Services (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 1981; High Court's direct award of pension was improper and should follow proper application and discretion.

JUDGMENT :

ATUL S. CHANDURKAR, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The State of Uttarakhand through its Chief Secretary is aggrieved by the judgment dated 12.09.2018 in Writ Petition No.284 of 2017 whereby the State Government has been directed to pay an amount of compensation of Rs.1,99,09,000/- with interest at the rate of 7.5% per annum to the first respondent. A further direction has been issued for grant of extraordinary pension to the first respondent under the Uttar Pradesh Civil Services (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 1981¹[For short, the Rules of 1981] as adopted by the State of Uttarakhand, within a period of ten weeks along with interest at the rate of 8.5 % per annum on the amount of arrears.

3. One Dr. Sunil Kumar Singh got himself registered with the Bihar Medical Council on 01.04.1991. He worked as a Junior Resident Doctor at A.N.Magadh Medical College Hospital, Gaya from 01.04.1991 till 18.08.1991. Subsequently, he was appointed as a Medical Officer on ad hoc basis with the State of Uttar Pradesh on 22.08.1992. After the Uttar Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2000 was enacted, Dr. Sunil Kumar Singh opted to serve at the State of Uttar Pradesh. However, since he was serving in the newly formed State of Uttarakhand, he was not relieved. On 20.04.2016, while he was discharging duties at CHC Jaspur as Pediatrician, he was shot dead. A First Information Report was accordingly lodged and Criminal Case No.773 of 2016 was filed against the alleged assailants. On the premise that the death had been caused during the discharge of duties, the first respondent, who is the widow of Dr. Sunil Kumar Singh, made a representation to the Chief Secretary, Ministry of Health with a copy addressed to the Hon’ble Chief Minister, State of Uttarakhand seeking grant of extraordinary pension under the Rules of 1981. On 26.05.2016, the Chief Secretary made a proposal for granting compensation of Rs.50,00,000/- to the family of Dr. Sunil Kumar Singh along with grant of compassionate appointment to the elder son of the deceased and allotment of Government accommodation to the first respondent for a period of five years. It is the case of the first respondent that except for paying an amount of Rs.1,00,000/- to the family as compensation and grant of compassionate appointment to her son as a Lecturer at the State Polytechnic College, Dehradun on contractual basis, nothing further was done.

4. The first respondent, thus, approached the High Court of Uttarakhand on 02.07.2017 by filing a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. She sought for implementation of the proposal made by the Chief Secretary dated 26.05.2016 along with further compensation of Rs.4,18,18,000/- and grant of extraordinary pension till the scheduled date of retirement of Dr. Sunil Kumar Singh with payment of family pension thereafter. Various other ancillary directions were also sought in the said writ petition.

The Deputy Secretary, Medical Health and Family Welfare Department filed an affidavit in reply on behalf of the State Government. It was stated that the first respondent was not entitled to grant of extraordinary pension as the work of a doctor did not fall under the definition of “work” in which life is put to risk. It was further stated that the State Government had paid the arrears of salary of the deceased being Rs.10,65,000/- along with ex gratia amount of Rs.1,00,000/-. Further, an official residence in ‘Group-C’ category was allotted to the family and the son of the first respondent had been given compassiona