ORDER

The applicant is aggrieved by the denial of family pension to which she lays claim on the ground that her late husband Shri Amar Deb was in receipt of pension having been an employee of the Department of Income Tax. By virtue of the instant Original Application, she seeks the following the relief(s):-

8.1 To direct the respondents to release Family Pension, Gratuity, GPF, GIS, Earned Leave Benefits etc. along with all other death benefits of late Amar Deb to the applicant with all consequential benefits.

8.2 To direct the respondents to pay interest @18% accrued on Family Pension, Gratuity, GPF, GIS, Benefits of un-utilized Earned Leave w.e.f. 2011 till the date of actual receipt with all consequential benefits.

8.3 Cost of the application.

8.4 Pass any such order/orders as Your Lordships may deem fit and proper.

2. The brief controversy involved in the matter is that somewhere along the line the marital relation between Shri Amar Deb and the present applicant are said to have soured which perhaps led to their living separately. Proceedings for divorce /legal separation had also commenced in the appropriate court of law but they could not be culminated /concluded during the life time of the late husband of the applicant. Meanwhile, a disabled sister of the late employee also made claim to the family pension of the deceased employee on the ground that since the present applicant had deserted her brother who was her husband and claiming that they had legally separated and subsequently the applicant had re-married, the sister became the sole claimant on account of her disability which prevented her from earning a living. On account of this controversy, the issue of grant of family pension to the applicant has remained unresolved.

3. Shri H.K. Das, learned counsel for the applicant draws attention to the relevant rules governing the grant of family pension and submits that as long as the widow of the late employee is alive, there could be no other claimant to the family pension. He goes on to submit that even though the proceeding for divorce were underway during the life time of the late employee i.e. the husband of the applicant, since these proceedings had not attained finality, the applicant remained the legally wedded wife of Late Shri Amar Deb the deceased employee. Hence there is no ground before the respondents to deny her the family pension.

Learned counsel draws attention to rule 54 of the CCS (Pension Rules) which unambiguously defines what family means for the purpose of grant of family pension and establishes that as long as the wife is alive, she is the sole claimant of the family pension and no one else can claim or share that right. He further draws attention to the judgment rendered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of titled Shri G.L. Bhatia vs Union of India (1999 – 5 – SSC Page237) wherein the Hon’ble Apex Court had held that even though the employee may not have expressly made any nomination, still in accordance with CCS Pension Rules, the spouse either wife or the husband cannot be denied the benefit of family pension. Learned counsel submits that it is wrong on the part of the respondents to allege that the applicant has re-married and thus become ineligible for grant of family pension because this statement factually incorrect.

4. Shri Vinod Kr. Bhatra, learned counsel for the respondents, on the other hand, points out that the issue of grant of family pension to the applicant has remained unresolved squarely on account of the act of omission on the part of the applicant who has not submitted the family declaration, which is a mandatory document required to be submitted, as also on account of non fulfillment of other statutory requirements of grant of family pension, Moreover, he points that it has come on record that the applicant has since remarried and drawing attention to the relevant r