Entitlement to payment of dues and family pension, and the right to claim interest on belated payments.

R.M.Prasad, J.

1. The petitioner is the widow of the deceased Government servant late Permatama Nand Ashthana who died in harness on September 22, 1984 while posted as Executive Engineer. Despite lapse of long time when dues of the hus- band of the petitioner as also the family pension were not paid to the petitioner she was com pelled to move this Court by filing the present writ petition with the grievances mentioned therein.

2. This matter was earlier heard on several occasions and with the best efforts of the learned Additional Advocate General III as well the learned Addl. Standing Counsel for the Accountant General, the sanctioned order/authority slips for most of the payments of the petitioner have been issued. However, as regards G.P.F. amount of the deceased husband of the petitioner, the same was paid for the period since after the transfer of the accounts from the Accountant General Office but with respect to deduction made on that account while the accounts were being maintained in the office of the Accountant General the payment could not be made on account of non-availability of the details of the deduction and as such in the last order dated February 3, 1997, the learned Add!. Standing Counsel for the Accountant General was directed to take instruction from the Accountant General Office with respect to the details of the posting of the husband of the petitioner during the period 1975-1976to 1981-82. Learned Addl. Standing Counsel has produced the details and as stated a copy of the same has also been sent to the concerned authority. A copy of the said details which has been produced in Court is being handed over to the learned Additional Advocate General III who states that we shall see that necessary sanction order will be issued within the time as is fixed by this Court.

3. Learned Counsel for the petitioner, however, submitted that the Accountant General Office has not yet fixed pay of the deceased husband of the petitioner for certain period when he was posted as Assistant Engineer as well as the Executive Engineer. Learned Counsel for the respondents have fairly submitted that if any of the grievance of the petitioner still remains to be redressed she may approach the concerned authority by filing a detailed representation giving the detail of her claim which shall be disposed of strictly by a reasoned order by the tune as is fixed by the Court. Learned Counsel for the petitioner also submitted that in view of the fact that certain dues of the petitioner remain withheld by the State Government for such a long period of time this Court should direct the respondents to pay the interest over the belated payment.

4. Having heard learned Counsel for the parties and considering the fair stand of the learned Counsel for the respondents, this writ application is disposed of with the direction to the Director, Provident Fund to get the entire remaining dues of the G.P.F. amount of the deceased husband of the petitioner calculated and necessary sanction order issued within ten days from today. As regards the other claims the petitioner may file representation before the concerned authority including the Accountant General within a period of two weeks from today which if filed shall be examined and disposed with a reasoned order within a period of two weeks thereafter and if any amount remains to be paid the necessary order/authority slip shall be issued by the concerned authority within one week thereafter. Having regard to the fact that certain admitted dues were not paid to the petitioner for no justifiable reason, in my opinion, the petitioner shall also be entitled for payment of interest at the rate of 10% per annum from the due date till the date payment is made which shall also be calculated and paid within the aforesaid time. It is made clear that the interest over the G. P. F. amount will be paid at the statutory rate with interest from the due date till the date payment is made. It is further made c