A 62-year-old widow from Odisha's Ganjam district,who was fighting a legal battle with the state government for the last 12 years for pension and gratuity after the death of her husband in 2000,has finally won. Shantilata Patnaik of Chudangapur in Ganjam district got the provisional pension and gratuity,earlier this month when a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the state government was dismissed by the Supreme court,said her advocate Sidharth Prasad Das. Odisha High Court had ordered settlement of her claim within a month while disposing a contempt application recently,he said. Patnaik's husband Binodananda Patnaik was working as an assistant surgeon in the office of the executive engineer,Harabhangi irrigation division at Adava in Gajapati district,when he died on August 20,2000. He had earlier filed a case in the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) for regularisation of his job. He died while the case was pending before the SAT,Das said. After the death of her husband,Shantilata continued to fight the case seeking gratuity along with the family pension. When the SAT ordered in favour of the petitioner,the state government moved the High Court against the tribunal order. The High Court also ordered in favour of the widow in 2009,said her advocate. The battle did not end here as the state government filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the High Court order. The Apex court,however,dismissed the SLP on the ground of delay. Meanwhile,the petitioner filed a contempt case against the government praying for an order to make the government comply with the High Courts earlier order. While disposing the contempt application,the High Court directed the government to comply with the order within a month. "Now I am happy as I have won the legal battle at last," she said. She was,however unhappy as she has got only some of the arrear amounts of provisional gratuity and pension," the widow said. "We hope the government will clear all her dues," her advocate added.
