Disabled Child Entitled to Arrears of Family Pension Effective Three Years Prior to Initial Writ Filing.

The petitioner, Purushottam Sharma, is the son of Late Suresh Sharma, a retired clerk of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) who superannuated in 1997 and died in 2004

Following the death of the petitioner's mother in 2016, the petitioner sought a family pension on the grounds of physical/mental disability as per Memo No. 188 dated 19.03.1975

After initially filing CWJC No. 13087 of 2021, the court directed the respondents to decide on his representation

Although a partial payment of Rs. 3,23,475/- was made for 19 months, the pension was subsequently stopped

Pursuant to fresh documents sent in May 2024, the Accountant General issued a Pension Payment Order (PPO) on 15.07.2024, but restricted the family pension entitlement to commence only from 10.07.2023

Whether the Accountant General was justified in granting the family pension solely from 10.07.2023, rather than from an earlier date related to the initial filing of the claim for disability pension

The Court primarily applied the legal principle governing "continuing wrongs" and the limitation on claiming arrears of pension as established by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Union of India and others v. Tarsem Singh (Civil Appeal No. 5151-5152 of 2008), which held that where a service-related claim is a recurring/continuing wrong, relief can be granted, but arrears should generally be restricted to a period of three years prior to the date of filing the writ petition

The Court analyzed the respondents' reliance on Tarsem Singh and found their application of the timeline to be factually flawed. The Accountant General had set the effective date as 10.07.2023, presumably based on the filing date of the current writ petition or the recent representation

The Court observed that the petitioner had actively pursued his claim much earlier through CWJC No. 13087 of 2021. The Court reasoned that if the principle of "three years prior to filing" is applied, the benchmark date must be the filing of the first writ petition in 2021, rather than the subsequent 2025 petition, as the claim for family pension on account of disability had been consistently asserted since then

The Court ordered the issuance of a revised PPO granting the family pension with effect from three years prior to the date of filing CWJC No. 13087 of 2021. Administrative formalities and payment of arrears must be completed within four and six weeks respectively