JUDGMENT :

The petitioner has instituted the instant writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking inter alia a direction in the nature of mandamus to direct the respondent authorities, more particularly, the respondent no. 2 to issue a Next of Kin [NoK] Certificate to the petitioner on the basis of her application submitted on 23.09.2022 without further delay so as to enable the petitioner to receive the pension and other service benefits of her deceased husband and also to receive regular family pension as per the extant rules in force.

2. The case projected by the petitioner, in brief, is that the husband of the petitioner viz. Saifuz Zaman was a Junior Engineer in the Public Works Department [PWD], Government of Assam and he retired from service on superannuation in June, 2018. After his retirement, Saifuz Zaman submitted all the necessary papers before the concerned authorities for finalization and payment of his monthly pension as well as other retirement benefits. While the process of finalization of monthly pension and other retirement benefits was