Widow of a deceased railway casual labourer challenged refusal of a CGIT reference on family pension. Court held the dispute had died due to 24 years of silence and dismissed the writ petition.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
Page No.# 1/4
GAHC010103312025
undefined
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No.: WP(C)/2662/2025
SMTI GAYATRI GOALA W/O- LATE KHITISH GOALA R/O- PANDU NO-3 FERRY GHAT COLONY
NEAR DURGA MANDAP P.O- GUWAHATI-12 P.S- JALUKBARI DIST- KAMRUP ASSAM
VERSUS THE UNION OF INDIA REP. BY THE SECRETARY MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT SHRAM SHAKTI BHAWAN RAFI MARG NEW DELHI-01 2:THE GENERAL MANAGER N F RAILWAY MALIGAON GUWAHATI-11
3:THE GENERAL MANAGER (CONSTRUCTION) N F RAILWAY MALIGAON GUWAHATI-11 4:THE F A AND CAO (PENSION)
Page No.# 2/4
N F RAILWAY MALIGAON GUWAHATI-11
For the petitioner (s) : Ms. D. Choudhury, Advocate
For the respondent (s) : Mr. S. S. Roy, CGC
BEFORE
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE DEVASHIS BARUAH O R D E R
05.02.2026
Heard Ms. D. Choudhury, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner. Mr. S. S. Roy, the learned counsel appears on behalf of the respondents.
Page No.# 3/4
attained temporary status on 16.03.1985. It is the further case of the petitioner that Late Khitish Goala expired on 14.06.1994. The petitioner thereupon received the service gratuity as well as the retirement gratuity as applicable to an unscreened staff of the Railways. The petitioner remained silent thereafter and in the year 2016 came to learn that the respondent Railways had granted family pension and other benefits to the beneficiary of a staff who had expired in harness without screening, which raised a fresh cause of action. The petitioner thereupon submitted a complaint, which was responded to by the Divisional Personnel Officer, N.F. Railway, stating inter alia that as the husband of the petitioner was an ex-unscreened casual labourer who had obtained temporary status on 16.03.1985 but died on 14.06.1994, and as on 30.04.1996 he was not on roll, there was no reason for conducting post facto screening for granting family pension to Smti. Gayatri Goala, widow of the deceased unscreened casual labourer, as was done in the case of Late Raj Narayan Yadav. The Rail Mazdoor Union, N.F. Zone, Guwahati raised the dispute, which was rejected by the impugned order dated 04.03.2022 on the ground that the said dispute was sought to be raised after 24 years without any justifiable explanation for the delay.
Page No.# 4/4
India, Ministry of Labour, has refused to make a reference to the Central Government Industrial Tribunal.
JUDGE
Comparing Assistant
1 issue framed by the court
Whether the Ministry of Labour's refusal to refer the family pension dispute to the Central Government Industrial Tribunal should be interfered with, given the petitioner's 24-year delay in raising it
Smti Gayatri Goala
The Union of India (Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment)
The General Manager, N.F. Railway
The General Manager (Construction), N.F. Railway
The FA and CAO (Pension), N.F. Railway
Devashis Baruah
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
