WRIT PETITION
Facts of the case:
[Link] and [Link] died in the year 2012 and 2014 respectively. Both
Sarojamma and Venkatappa begot 3 children out of their wedlock. The first two of them
were mentally sound, gainfully employed and married and independently living their life.
But Mr. Ajay aged 35 years, the last child of the couple, was born with the disability of
mental retardation which is actually incurable and permanent. After the death of
Sarojamma and Venkatappa, their eldest son Vijay had taken the burden of looking after
Ajay which task required extra care, caution and expenditure. Venkatappa was a
government servant having rendered an impeccable service for 35 years as an SDA, FDA
and finally as an Office Superintendent in the Department of Forest, Government of
Karnataka (GoK hereinafter) and got superannuated in the year 1995. After his retirement
from service he drew a monthly pension of Rs.10,000/-. In the year 2007 the GoK, took a
Cabinet decision and through the Department of Finance made a circular that children born
to the servants of GoK having either physical or mental disability or both, are entitled to
receive family pension which was half the amount of the pension drawn by either of the
child’s parents, provided such disabled child is unmarried and both of his parents have
died. In the instant case Ajay was unmarried and mentally disabled child of a government
servant and hence clearly entitled to receive the said family pension. But due to lack of
knowledge on the part of Vijay, he never came to know about the existence of such a
benefit. Subsequently, through one of his acquaintances he came to know about the said
circular being in force and accordingly approached the Department of Forest, where his
father worked and retired from. But the officials there have not bothered to look into the
entreaties of Vijay, citing some extraneous reasons that his father’s service records might
not be available since he retired a very long time ago and also that he should have come
very early. But Vijay persevered in his approaches and ultimately achieved success in
obtaining the service records of his father. Later Vijay filed a civil suit in [Link].2137/2016
before the City Civil Court, Bengaluru claiming the guardianship of his younger brother
Ajay and the Hon'ble Court was pleased to decree his claim on 18.03.2017. After obtaining
this judgment and decree, Vijay tendered an application, through the Department of Forest,
Government of Karnataka, for the grant of family pension in the name of Ajay along with
the necessary documents, to the Accountant General (AG) of Karnataka. Unfortunately even
after the lapse of 1 year from the date of the said application not a single word has come
across to Vijay from the office of the AG of Karnataka except for the postal
acknowledgement and this happened despite there being an express provision vide Rule
347-A of Karnataka Civil Services Rules, that any application for grant of family pension
must be disposed of in favour of the beneficiaries, within a period of two months. When
Vijay lost his patience, he then started making personal approaches to the AG’s office. For
the first time when he went there, to his dismay and surprise he came to know that his
application containing all the original documents was thrown in a heap of disposed files
and one of the office staffs there helped him retrieve the application and place it before the
concerned case worker. This case worker was very casual, flippant and negligent towards
the requests of Vijay for quick disposal of the application and didn’t even care to give
proper answers and replies to Vijay’s queries and doubts. After this disheartening
experience at the AG’s office his subsequent visits were met with same cold-blooded replies
and rants. Fed up with the apathy and negligence of the Office of AG of Karnataka, Vijay
decides to file a writ petition before the High Court of Karnataka seeking a writ of
mandamus for early disposal of the application for family pension.
Problem:
Draft a Writ Petition on behalf of [Link] to be filed before the High Court of Karnataka,
praying for the issue of writ of mandamus against the Accountant General of Karnataka, to
dispose of the application pending before him seeking the grant of family pension at the
earliest along with costs and such other relief/s as the Hon'ble Court deems fit in the facts
and circumstances of the case.
