- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) This court passed the following order on 19/07/1993: "The question for our determination is whether the petitioner is entitled to Family Pension in terms of proviso to Rule 54 (6 of the central Civil services (Pension) Rules, 1972, The said proviso is reproduced hereunder: 'Provided that if the son or daughter of a government servant is suffering from any disorder or disability of mind or is physically crippled or disabled so as to render him or her unable to earn a living even after attaining the age of (twenty-one years in the case of the son and thirty years in the case of the daughter) the family pension shall be payable to such son or daughter for life subject to the following conditions, namely: (I) if such son or daughter is one among two or more children of the government servant, the family pension shall be initially payable to the minor children in the order set out in clause (iii) of sub-rule (8 of this rule until the last minor child attains the age of (twenty-one or thirty, as the case may be) , and thereafter the family pension shall be resumed in favour of the son or daughter suffering from disorder or disability of mind or who is physically crippled or disabled and shall be payable to him/her for life; (Ii) if there are more than one such son or daughter suffering from disorder or disability of mind or who are physically crippled or disabled, the family pension shall be paid in the following order namely: (A) firstly to the son and if there are more than one son, the younger of them will get the family pension only after the lifetime of the elder; (B) secondly, to the daughter, and if there are more than one daughter, the younger of them will get the family pension only after the lifetime of the elder; (Iii) (the family pension shall be paid to such son or daughter through the guardian as if he or she were a minor except in the case of the physically crippled son/daughter who has attained the age of majority) ; (Iv) before allowing the family pension for life to any such son or daughter, the (appointing authority) shall satisfy that the handicap is of such a nature so as to prevent him or her from earning his or her livelihood and the same shall be evidenced by a certificate obtained from a medical officer 147 not below the rank of a Civil Surgeon setting out, as far as possible, the exact mental or physical condition of the child; (V) The person receiving the family pension as guardian of such son or daughter (or such son or daughter not receiving the family pension through a guardian) shall produce every three years a certificate from a medical officer not below the rank of a Civil Surgeon to the effect that he or she continues to suffier from disorder or disability of mind or continues to be physically crippled or disabled. ' We are of the view that the appellant be examined by the psychiatry Department of the All India Medical Institute, New Delhi with a view to find out as to whether the appellant is suffering from any 'disorder of mind or is physically crippled or disabled' due to which she is unable to earn her living even after attaining the age of 21 years. The Registry is directed to address a letter to the Psychiatry department of All India Medical Institute and get the examination done within 2 months from today. The learned counsel for the petitioner undertakes to approach the AIIMS thereafter and get a date fixed for examination of his client. The matter to come up on 20/09/1993. Copy of this order be sent to AIIMS along with the letter. Copy of the letter be sent to the learned counsel for the petitioner. "
(3.) Pursuant to the above-quoted order of this court, Dr S. Saxena, additional Professor, Department of Psychiatry of All India Institute of Medical sciences examined the appellant and sent a report dated 8/09/1993 which is in the following terms: "As directed by you, I have examined the appellant (Bhagwanti marntani) on 8/09/1993. She has earlier been examined in our OPD on 29/07/1992 and 5/08/1992. Her psychological assessment was also done on 4/08/1993. In my opinion she has mental subnormality with dull average adaptive skills. Because of this mental condition she is unable to earn her living even after attaining the age of 21 and also at present. ";