Ten years and a court order later, the Calcutta Municipal Corporation now has to pay the pension and statutory benefits of an employee who died on the job to his father and daughter.

Calcutta High Court asked the civic body on Tuesday to clear in six weeks all payments due to the family of Sunil Basu, who died in 1998.

The payments have to be made to Biswanath Basu, his father who is the legal guardian of his daughter Sanchita, at 15 still a minor.

Sanchita had lost her mother a year after her father’s death.

Justice Jayanta Biswas, who passed the order, said: “The minor girl had to face a tremendous economic crisis and was deprived of her right to education because of the CMC’s fault.”

The judge said he would consider later if the minor and her guardian could also be paid interest on the dues.

Moving a writ on behalf of Biswanath Basu, advocate Uttam Majumdar said that after Sunil, a Group ‘D’ employee, died, his wife Sunita claimed her husband’s statutory dues from the CMC and sought a job for herself on compassionate grounds.

The CMC officials assured Sunita that she would get a pension of Rs 1,800 a month, besides the gratuity of Rs 50,000. They also promised to consider her appeal for a job later.

“But nothing was paid to Sunita and the poor lady died on December 10, 1999, for lack of proper treatment. After Sunita’s death, her daughter, Sanchita, approached the CMC, claiming the pension and other statutory dues,” Majumdar told the court.

In the letter to the CMC, the girl also requested that the authorities provide a job to her uncle, Molay Basu, so that he could take the responsibility of raising her.

But the CMC did not pay Sanchita, saying a minor could not claim her father’s dues. Sunita and Biswanath Basu continued to try to make the civic body pay without success.

“The CMC officials told my client that the money could be given to Sanchita’s legal guardian alone,” Majumdar said.

Biswanath Basu moved the Chinsurah court to establish his status as Sanchita’s guardian, a prayer that was granted in 2006.

Armed with the court order, he again went to the CMC but, finding no response, he sought justice from Calcutta High Court.

Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya said: “Such incidents should not happen.” They keep happening, though.