Opinion
July 8, 1996
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Kings County (Kramer, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, without costs or disbursements, the petition is denied, the proceeding is dismissed, and it is declared that the appellant's policy, as set forth in 68 RCNY § 2-03 (c), of denying burial grants to otherwise eligible applicants whose applications are submitted after 60 days of death is not arbitrary or capricious.
The rules of the appellant, the Administrator of the New York City Human Resources Administration, require that an application for reimbursement for burial expenses be made within 60 days of the death of a recipient of public assistance ( see, 68 RCNY § 2-03 [c]). The Supreme Court found, inter alia, that the agency's imposition of the limitation period in question was not authorized by the enabling act ( see, Social Services Law § 141). We disagree. The enabling act vests broad discretion with the local public welfare administrator to "fill in [the] interstices in the regulatory scheme" ( State Div. of Human Rights v. Genesee Hosp., 50 N.Y.2d 113, 119; see also, Matter of Mendelsohn v. Toia, 46 N.Y.2d 823). The time limitation in question is a reasonable procedural rule which is rationally related to the legitimate governmental objectives embodied in the Social Services Law while not unreasonably affecting any substantive entitlement ( see, Matter of Berdecia v. Perales, 188 A.D.2d 311; see also, Withey v. Perales, 920 F.2d 156; cf., Matter of Jones v. Berman, 37 N.Y.2d 42). Miller, J.P., Pizzuto, Santucci and Hart, JJ., concur. [ See, 161 Misc.2d 883.]