Mostt. Pramila Devi, Etc. vs State Of Bihar And Ors. on 25 May, 2000
12. Thus, this Court in paragraph 7 of the decision in the case of Lalita Devi v. State of Bihar (supra) has elaborately considered the decision of the State Government which reviewed its earlier decision at the instance of the Government of India and drew up afresh scheme which provided for grant of pension for life to the widow of deceased Government servant and held that the 1977 instruction cannot sustain the test of reasonableness and the principles governing Articles 14 and 16 read with Articles 38, 39 and 41 of the Constitution of India inasmuch as by fixing a cut-off dated under 1977 instruction would amount to arbitrarily denying the benefit available to the family of the teachers under the existing scheme of 1964 and thereby acting to their detriment. It was further held that admittedly the husband of the petitioners of the two writ petitions died in harness much after 1.1.1971, which is the effective date of take over of the school by the Government by virtue of which the teachers and employees of the schools became Government servant and thus, they cannot be differentiated in the matter of grant of pensionary benefits by issuing executive instruction.