A divorced daughter is entitled to family pension if she was dependent on the deceased pensioner at the time of death, irrespective of the divorce being post-death.

JUDGMENT :

A.K. Mohapatra, J.

1. The above batch of Writ Petitions has been filed with the principal prayer to direct the concerned Opposite Parties to sanction and disburse family pension in favour of the Petitioners. Since the Writ Petitions are all founded on an identical factual matrix and involve similar questions of law, for the sake of expediency, they are taken up together for analogous hearing. W.P.(C) No.33864 of 2021 is taken up as the lead matter for the sake of convenience and to analyses the factual background of the writ petitions.

2. The W.P.(C) No.33864 of 2021 has been filed with a prayer to set- aside the impugned order dated 17.08.2021 passed by the office of the Principal Accountant General (A&E), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, under Annexure-1, along with an additional prayer to direct the Opposite Parties to sanction and disburse the Family Pension in favour of the Petitioner, including arrears from the date of death of the deceased pensioner.

FACTUAL MATRIX OF THE CASE

3. A concise overview of the facts forming the basis for the challenge in the present Writ Petition, is as follows; one Brundaban Behera, the deceased father of the present Petitioner, initially served as an ‘Agriculture Over-sear’ in the office of the Agriculture & Food production Department until his retirement on 31.07.1997. Consequent upon his retirement the deceased Govt. employee received his pension, since 01.08.1997, vide PPO No.311032, under Annexure-3, until his death in 31.12.2011. After the death of the Petitioner’s father, it was his widow, i.e. the Petitioner’s mother, who received the family pension up until 09.06.2019 when she passed away leaving behind a son and a divorced daughter, i.e. the Petitioner. As far as the Petitioner is concerned, she was originally married to one Susanta Kumar Dhal on 03.06.2006. However, due to demand of dowry from her in-laws and other domestic issues, she was driven out of her matrimonial home and, as per the Petitioner, she has been living at her parents’ house since 25.12.2010 and for her survival she is dependent on her father’s pension. It is also pertinent to note that the husband of the Petitioner had filed a C.P Case No.283/2017 in the Court of Family Judge, Kendrapada for dissolution of marriage. As a result, a divorce decree dissolving the marriage between the parties has been passed on 10.01.2019, a copy of which has been annexed as Annexure-7 to the present Writ Petition.

4. After the death of the last Pensioner, i.e. the Petitioner’s mother, the present Petitioner applied for family pension vide letter dated 28.08.2019, under Annexure-8, as per the applicable Orissa Civil Service (Pension) Rules, 1992 (hereinafter “1992, Rules”). Upon receipt of her pension papers, the authority forwarded the same to the Deputy Director, Agriculture. However, later the Opposite Party No.2-the Principal Accountant General (A&E), Odisha, Bhubaneswar, instead of considering the pension papers, returned the same to the Director of Agriculture and Food Production, Odisha for re-examination of the eligibility of the Petitioner for availing family pension vide the impugned letter/ order No.17.08.2021, under Annexure-1. Aggrieved by such conduct of the Opposite Parties, the Petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present Writ Petition.

In re: W.P.(C) No.36411 of 2022

5. Inasmuch as the factual circumstances arising in W.P.(C) No. 36411 of 2022 bear certain distinguishing features vis-à-vis the other Writ Petitions in the batch, it would be appropriate to enumerate those facts