LUCKNOW, Aug. 3 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has pulled up the Uttar Pradesh government for not paying service benefits to a woman employee in the state's irrigation department, despite its order issued about 10 years ago. The court also imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh upon the state government for such an attitude. The division bench comprising Justice A R Masoodi and Justice Shree Prakash Singh passed the judgment on July 29 while dismissing two special appeals filed by the state government challenging the single judge bench order dated March 3, 2025. The division bench said the attitude of the state officials had, in fact, led the woman employee towards starvation. "There is a serious default on the part of the State not to obey its earlier judgment and even failure on their part to make the payment of pensionary benefits to the deceased woman employee has caused a heavy financial loss to the deceased employee rather she was brought to the stage of starvation which deserves to be compensated in terms of cost," the court said. Shakila Bano, serving in the irrigation department, was not being paid salary since 2011 due to some dispute regarding her date of birth. Hearing her plea on August 26, 2015, a division bench of the court held that her date of birth was July 17, 1962 and directed that she must be paid the service benefits accordingly. Despite this order, she was not paid. While she was to retire on July 31, 2022, she died on January 23, 2022. Thereafter, her son Mukhtar Ahmad moved the high court which on March 3, 2025 passed the order relying on the August 26, 2015 order that he must be given all benefits of his mother considering her date of birth as was decided earlier. But against this order of the single bench, the irrigation department preferred the special appeals. The court observed, "The grounds urged by the state before us do not require any interference and the appeals bereft of any merit are hereby rejected." "Taking note of the fact that the family of the deceased employee was subjected to a heavy and grave financial loss despite the judgment passed on August 26, 2015 having attained finality, we hereby proceed to impose a cost of rupees one lakh upon the State which shall be released in favour of the respondent Mukhtar Ahmad, the son of the deceased employee, herein along-with all other benefits in terms of the directions issued by the writ court," the court ordered while dismissing the appeals....