Page 1 of 4. IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK WP(C) No.12913 of 2025 Pranati Debi @ Devi ..... Petitioner Represented By Adv. - Krishna Chandra Sahu -versus- State Of Odisha and others ..... Opposite Parties Mr. U.C. Jena, ASC Mr. S.K. Patra, Standing Counsel for A.G. CORAM: THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ADITYA KUMAR MOHAPATRA ORDER 09.05.2025 Order No. 01. 1. This matter is taken up through Hybrid mode. 2. Heard learned counsels for the Petitioner as well as Mr. S.K. Patra, learned Standing Counsel for Principal Accountant General of Odisha and learned Additional Standing Counsel for the State. Perused the writ application as well as the documents annexed thereto. 3. The Petitioner has filed the present writ application with the following prayer: “It is, therefore humbly prayed that the Hon'ble Court be graciously pleased to pass following prayer:- Page 2 of 4. (i) The Hon'ble Court be pleased to allow this writ petition, (ii) The Hon'ble Court be graciously pleased to direct the Opp. parties for sanction & disbursement of family pension in favour of the petitioner as due & admissible keeping in view of amended provision of Rule-56 of OCS (Pension) Rules 1992 within a time bound period for the interest of justice. (iii) The Hon'ble Court be pleased to pass any other order(s), direction(s) as deems fit & proper for the bonafide interest of justice.” 4. Learned counsel for the Petitioner at the outset contended that the father of the Petitioner, namely one Kali Charan Ghadei who was working as a Head Jail Warder at Sub-Jail, Aska superannuated from service w.e.f. 28.02.2006. After the retirement, the father of the Petitioner was getting pensionary benefits by PPO No.358062. On 03.04.2021 the father of the Petitioner died. Thereafter, the mother of the present Petitioner, Smt. Pramila Ghadei was getting family pension. Further, it appears that the mother of the Petitioner passed away on 17.06.2022. Finally, the Petitioner has submitted an application on 18.06.2024 to get the family pension on the ground that she is the unmarried daughter of the ex-government employee. Thereafter, the Petitioner approached the Principal Accountant General of Odisha by filing an application on 18.06.2024. It appears that such application of the Petitioner for grant of family pension has been returned by the Office of the Principal Accountant General to the Office of the Pension Sanctioning Authority. However, no steps have been taken for grant of family pension. Being aggrieved by such Page 3 of 4. inaction, the Petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present writ petition. 5. Mr. S.K. Patra, learned Standing Counsel for Principal Accountant General of Odisha at the outset contended that the Petitioner should have approached the pension sanctioning authority first instead he has approached the Principal Accountant General of Odisha by filing an application which was returned to the pension sanctioning authority for verification of the application and forwarding the same. In such view of the matter, learned counsel for Principal Accountant General contended that the Opposite Parties have not committed any illegality. 6. Learned counsel for the State also on the other hand contended that in the event the issue still pending before the pension sanctioning authority, he will have no objection in the event this Court directs the pension sanctioning authority to take steps to sanction the family pension papers in accordance with law to the Principal Accountant General. 7. Considering the submissions made by the learned counsels appearing for the respective parties, on a careful analysis of their submission and on a close scrutiny of the document annexed to the writ petition, this Court directs the Opposite Party No.3 to take immediate steps to scrutinize the application of the Petitioner for grant of family pension as an unmarried daughter of the ex- government employee and forward the same to the Office of the Opposite Party No.5 as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of six weeks from the date of communication of a certified copy of today’s order. In the event the pension papers are forwarded Page 4 of 4. to the Office of the Opposite Party No.5, the Opposite Party No.5 is directed to take immediate steps for disbursal of the family pension in favour of the Petitioner, subject to the eligibility of the Petitioner and recommendation of the PSA within a period of four weeks from the date of forwarding such pension papers. 8. With the aforesaid observations/directions, the writ application stands disposed of. Issue urgent certified copy of this order as per Rules. ( Aditya Kumar Mohapatra ) Judge S.K. Rout