LAHORE, Sept 12: The widow of a deceased government servant has been allowed full monthly subsistence grant from the benevolent fund after the demise of the first on the intervention of Punjab Ombudsman Abdur Rashid Khan.
Complainant Shameem Begum submitted that her husband died while serving as a clerk in the court of Dera Ghazi Khan district and sessions judge in April 1983. The Benevolent Fund former commissioner /chairman sanctioned monthly grant with effect from March 1984 which was to be shared equally by her and first widow Maqsood Begum.
The grant continued to be paid to her till December 1990, but was withheld by the National Bank of Pakistan manager from January 1991 on the ground that she failed to submit the claim in time. The grant was not paid to her for five years and was restored in January 1995.
The complainant further submitted that the bank manager had not only withheld payment of her share of monthly grant for five years, but her application for payment of full grant following the demise of the first wife of her husband in April 1987 had also been rejected by the Benevolent Fund Board.
She requested the ombudsman to order payment of full monthly grant to her along with the release of five-year arrears of the withheld grant.
The DG Khan DCO said in his departmental response that the complainant had received the grant till December 1989. The payment of grant was stopped from January 1990, but the complainant applied for its restoration after three years and it was restored from January 1995. She applied for the transfer of share of the first widow of her husband to her after six years of her death and her application was filed to that extent.
The ombudsman ordered restoration of the grant from the date of submission of application i.e April 1993, in accordance with a letter issued by the Provincial Benevolent Board providing that the grant would be restored with effect from the date of filing of application in case it was sought after two years and before five years of stoppage.
The rejection of complainant’s request for transfer of share of the first wife after her death was unjustified. The share should be transferred to her as the surviving widow.