Central Administrative Tribunal - Kolkata
Kalyani Ghosh vs Income Tax on 22 March, 2024
1 O.A. No. 350/663/2019
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
KOLKATA BENCH, KOLKATA
O.A. No. 350/00663/2019
Heard on: 05/02/2024
Date of oe 22 Io 3 { 20LI
Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Anindo Majumdar, Administrative Member
Hon'ble Mr. Rajnish Kumar Rai, Judicial Member
Kalyani Ghosh, Wife of Late Debashis Ghosh,
residing at Netaji Park 'Near Ramnarayan
Mandir, P.O. and P.S. Chakdaha, District Nadia,
Pin-741 222:
... .Applicant
Vs.
1. The Principal Chief Commissioner of Income
Tax Kolkata 1, Sikkim and West Bengal,
Kolkata, P-7, Chowringhee Square, Kolkata 700
069;
2. Principal Commissioner of Income Tax-13,
Kolkata, 3 Government Place, Kolkata - 700
001;
3, Joint Income Tax, Commissioner Circie-37, of
3 Government Place, Koikata - 700 001;
4. Additional Commissioner of Income Tax,
Circle-37, 3 Government Place, Kolkata - 700
001;
veveees Respondents
For The Applicant(s): Ms. M. Mondal; Proxy Counsel
For The Respondent(s): Mr. B. B. Chatterjee; Counsel
ORDER
Per: Mr. Anindo Majumdar, Member (A)
1. Heard Ld. Counsel for both the parties.
Ais l) 2 O.A. No. 350/663/2019
2. The applicants have filed this O.A. under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, seeking the following relief(s):
"(a) An order be passed upon the respondent authorities particularly respondent No.1 to quash, set aside and rescind Annexure A-12 collectively and to release the retiral dues including Provident Fund, Gratuity, Pension and other death benefits to your Applicant accrued by her deceased husband, Late Debashis Ghosh, being Tax Assistant, Range 54(3), Income Tax Department under Additional Commissioner of Income Tax who died-
in-hamess on 09.01.2009 within cerlain time by passing an order to that effect upon cancellation of the Order dated 15.03.2019 and 27.03.2019 respectively;
b) Order / direction be passed by directing the Respondent no.2 and/or Respondent No.1 not to give any effect further effect to the Annexures being "A-12" to the application and directing the respondent no.2 fo withdraw, rescind, cancel set aside and at quash the said orders immediately by granting retiral / death benefits of Late Debashis Ghosh to the applicant per issuance of a fresh, effective order there;
c) Cost of and incidental to this Application be borne by the respondents;
d) Pass such other or further Order or Orders as fo this Hon'ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper and be effective there for the purpose of passing an Order granting benefits of retirement to the applicant,"
3. Shri. Debashis Ghosh, Tax Assistant, Range- 54(3), Income Tax Department under the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, expired on 09.01.2009.
4. The Income Tax Department has not yet disbursed pension and retirement benefits in respect of Late Shri Debashis Ghosh since claims had been received from 02 (two) persons namely Smt. Uma Ghosh and Smt. Kalyani Ghosh, both claiming to be the wife of Late Debashis Ghosh. However, the balance available in the Provident Fund Account of the deceased employee was disbursed to Smt. Uma Ghosh since the A
8. 3 O.A. No. 350/663/2019 deceased employee had nominated her to receive the same. Further, Smt. Uma Ghosh was appointed as a Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS) in the department on compassionate ground and she joined in the said post on 14.06.2011.
Smt. Uma Ghosh expired on 19.02.2013. As per her will, she had affirmed that all her claims such as gratuity, provident fund, pension salary etc. be given to her sister, Smt. Gita Dey.
Smt. Kalyani Ghosh had filed a title suit bearing No. 229 of 2009 before the Court of Ld. Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kalyani.
Smt. Kalyani Ghosh filed an original application bearing No. 350/89/2016 before this Tribunal which was disposed of vide order dtd. 24.01.2019, with the following directions:
"In view of the aforesaid submissions made by Ld. Counsel for both the sides, | think it proper fo dispose of this O.A. by directing Respondent No.1 to consider the representation of the applicant. Accordingly, without going into the merit of the matter, | dispose of this O.A. by directing Respondent No. 7 to consider the representation under Annexure-A/7, if it has been already preferred and is still pending consideration, keeping in mind Annexure-A/5 to the O.A. as well as Annexure-R/1 and R/2 to the Rejoinder, and communicate the result thereof to the applicant by a well-reasoned order within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of copy of this order. | make it clear that if after such consideration Respondent No.1 is satisfied that the applicant is the sole surviving widow claiming for pensionary benefits and there is no more contravention fo it then expeditious steps be taken to release and disburse the amount as per her entitlement following due procedure and rules within a further period of six weeks. | also make it clear that if in the meantime the said representation made under Annexure-A/? has already been disposed of then the result thereof be communicated to the applicant within a period of four weeks."
In compliance of the aforesaid order of this Tribunal an order No. 133 of 2019 dtd. 15.03.2019 and thereafter a corrigendum Nea Y 4 O.A. No. 350/663/2019 order No. 135 of 2019 dtd. 27.03.2019 were passed and duly communicated with the applicant.
The submissions made by the applicant in her OA are summarized as below:
a) She had submitted an application dtd. 27.03.2009 to the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, praying for release of retirement/death benefits in respect of her late husband Shri Debashis Ghosh in her favour.
b) She had also affirmed an affidavit before the Court of First Class Judicial Magistrate, Kalyani, stating that she is the legally married wife of the deceased employee.
c) The pass book of the Bengal Income Tax Co-operative Society Limited shows that she is the nominee of Late Debashis Ghosh.
d) She has not received death benefits in respect of her late husband.
e) She filed a Title Suit bearing No. 229 of 2009 before the Court of Learned Civil Judge (Junior Division), Kalyani and that the said Ld Court disposed the title suit on 22.04.2014 in her favour holding that she is entitled to get the entire retirement dues and other benefits in respect of Late Debashis Ghosh and had also restrained the respondents from disbursing the said amount to any third party.
f) She communicated the aforesaid order to the respondent authority on 30.05.2014. Notwithstanding, the order of the bi 5 O.A. No. 350/663/2019 Court in the aforesaid title suit, the respondent authority did not release the death benefits in respect of the deceased employee to her. The respondent authority also did not assail the said judgment/ decree before the appellate forum.
g) Respondent No. 2, Smt. Uma Ghosh could not prove that she was married to Late Debashis Ghosh.
10. The submissions of the respondents are summarized as below:
a) The service records of Late Debashis Ghosh was checked and it appeared that in the provident fund nomination form the name of the nominee was initially written as Mrs. Uma Ghosh and later on the word "Kalyani" was overwritten on the word "Uma". However, on enquiry from the Office of the Pay and Accounts Officer, ZAO, CBDT, Kolkata, it was ascertained that according to the records maintained by them the nominee was Smt. Uma Ghosh. In the nomination form made by the subscriber Late Debashis Ghosh, Smt. Uma Ghosh was nominated as his nominee on 30.08.1988 and the same was accepted by the ZAO Office on 07.09.1988. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory to whom the matter was referred to, have confirmed, vide their report dtd. 07.12.2011, over-
writing and addition of strokes while changing the name of Kalyani in place of Uma in the nomination form.
11. Smt. Uma Ghosh had submitted various documents in support of her claim to be the legally wedded wife of Late Shri Debashis Ghosh. Among the documents was an application for maintenance pertaining to case No. 606 of 2001 and receipt of lio 8
12.
13. 6 O.A. No. 350/663/2019 maintenance allowance received by her from Late Shri Debashis Ghosh in pursuance of the order of the Judicial Magistrate 5" Court, Alipur, 24 Parganas (S), from which it is apparent that Smt. Uma Ghosh is his legally wedded wife. However, no decree of divorce between Smt. Uma Ghosh and Late Shri Debashis Ghosh is available in their records.
Although, Smt. Kalyani Ghosh had not submitted a certificate of marriage to the department, she had produced a copy of the same before the Hon'ble Court at Kalyani which shows that the marriage was registered at Beharampur, Murshidabad. However, on examination of the marriage certificate it appears that the same is not genuine. Smt. Kalyani Ghosh also produced a copy of the wedding invitation card which also appears to be not genuine. Both the copy of marriage certificate as well as the copy of the wedding card appear to be fabricated.
We have heard Ld Counsels for both the parties and have considered the material on record. This is a case where two persons namely Smt. Uma Ghosh and Smt. Kalyani Ghosh, are contesting and have claimed to be wife of the deceased employee Late Debashis Ghosh and have accordingly put forward their claims for the death benefits in respect of Late Debashis Ghosh. The respondent authority had disbursed the balance of the provident fund of the deceased employee to Smt. Uma Ghosh since the deceased employee had nominated her as her nominee for this purpose. However, the Awl 7 O.A. No. 350/663/2019 other dues in respect of the deceased employee have not been disbursed to the rival claimants.
Meanwhile, Smt. Kalyani Ghosh had filed a title suit claiming all the death benefits and the suit was decided in her favour. However, the respondent authorities have apparently not disbursed the death benefits of the deceased employee to Smt. Kalyani Ghosh since in their view the documents such as marriage certificate, wedding invitation card etc. submitted by Smt. Kalyani Ghosh before the Learned Court were fabricated.
In the meantime, one of the claimants namely Smt. Uma Ghosh expired and she had in a will nominated her sister Smt. Gita Dey as her legal heir and to receive all amounts accruing to her.
14. We are of the view that, since the respondent authority had valid reasons for believing that the documents submitted by Smt. Kalyani Ghosh in support of her claim were not genuine and also in view of the CFSL report dtd. 07.12.2011 regarding the nomination form of the provident fund account of Late Shri Debashis Ghosh to which a reference has been made in preceding paras, they were justified in not releasing the death benefits of the deceased employee to Smt. Kalyani Ghosh. However, the respondent authority ought have assailed the award in respect of Title Suit No. 229/2009 in the higher judicial forum. It is not clear from the material on record as to whether the same has been done by the respondent authority.
buf) 8 O.A. No. 350/663/2019
15. This Tribunal is not the appropriate forum to decide the claims of the persons claiming to be legal heirs of the deceased employee. The applicant may move the appropriate forum for this purpose.
16. In view of the above, this OA is dismissed. There will be no order as to costs.
Rajnish Kufnar Rai Anindo Majumdar Member (J) Member (A)