Allahabad High Court
Rudra Prakash Srivastava vs State Of U.P.Thru Secy And Anr. on 6 August, 2021
Bench: Ashwani Kumar Mishra
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 33
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 9456 of 2013
Petitioner :- Rudra Prakash Srivastava
Respondent :- State Of U.P.Thru Secy And Anr.
Counsel for Petitioner :- Sharad Kumar Srivastava,Manvendra Singh
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Ashwani Kumar Mishra,J.
Petitioner is a retired employee. He had earlier approached this Court by filing Writ Petition No.54197 of 2012 in respect of his grievance relating to non payment of retiral benefits soon after his retirement in the year 2010. Writ petition was disposed of vide following orders passed on 17.10.2020:-
"Heard learned counsel for the parties.
The grievance of the petitioner is that the arrear of salary, which was due on account of implementation of 6th Pay Commission, was paid in the month of June, 2012 while as per the Government Order 20% was payable in financial year 2008-09, 40% was payable in financial year 2009-10 and remaining 40% was payable in financial year 2010-11, therefore, for the delayed payment the petitioner is entitled for the interest which has not been paid. In this regard the petitioner has filed representation dated 13.7.2012, Annexure-2 to the writ petition, before the District Panchayat Raj Adhikari, Fatehpur which is pending for consideration.
In view of the above, the writ petition is disposed of directing the District Panchayat Raj Adhikari, Fatehpur to consider and dispose of the representation of the petitioner expeditiously preferably within a period of three months from the date of presentation of certified copy of this order in accordance to law by a reasoned order."
Pursuant to the aforesaid direction petitioner's claim has been considered and rejected by the District Panchayat Raj Officer, Fatehpur vide order dated 10.01.2013. Order impugned records that petitioner retired on 31.07.2010 and pension papers were forwarded from time to time. Except for routine correspondence as well as non availability of budget no other reason is disclosed for the delay in release of retiral benefits. The retiral benefits of petitioner were eventually paid on 05.06.2012.
As per the order impugned there is no default on part of the petitioner at any stage, which may have caused delay in payment of retiral benefits.
This Court in the case of Yogendra Singh and others vs. State of U.P. and others, (2016) 4 UPLBEC 3051 has clearly observed that retired employee is entitled to financial benefits in terms of his entitlement within a month or else he would be entitled to payment of interest. After considering large number of judgments the Court observed as under in para 49:-
"49. As a sequel to the above, broad principles that can be culled out from the various decisions and statuary rules can be summarised thus:
(i) Pension and other retiral benefits of all Government employees must be sanctioned/paid in terms of the Rules, 1995 on the eve of their retirement, if there is no legal impediment.
(ii) If there is any delay in the payment of retiral benefits and pension, the employee shall be entitled for the interest at the current market rate with effect from the date of his/her retirement till the date of actual payment. The interest on delayed payment shall be paid by the State Government. It will be open to the State Government to recover it from the officer/officials who are found to be guilty for negligence in payment of the pension. If such official is retired, the amount of the interest shall be recovered from his/her post retiral benefits/pension after furnishing him/her opportunity.
(iii) It will be open to the State Government to initiate proceedings against such official for taking action for misconduct in terms of the Rules, 1995, if he is in service."
A Division Bench of this Court in the case of Smt. Omwati vs. State of U.P. and others being Writ Petition No.6879 of 2018, decided on 09.03.2018, has observed as under:-
"The only other issue that survives for consideration is whether, the petitioner is entitled to payment of interest on the delayed payment of gratuity.
This aspect has been dealt with by Division Bench of this Court in Special Appeal (Defective) No.430 of 2016, Smt. Nazma Khatoon Vs. State of U.P. and others where a learned Single Judge had rejected the prayer for interest on delayed payment of gratuity. However, the Division Bench opined that interest is a necessary corollary to the retention of money by another person. It is neither compensatory nor penal in nature. It was so held, upon an earlier Division Bench decision in Smt. Ranjana Kakkar W/O Late Prof. Amarnath Kakkar Vs. State of Uttar pradesh and others, 2008(10) ADJ 63 (DB).
The Division Bench in Smt. Nazma Khatoon (supra) went on to award 8% interest on the gratuity payable.
Counsel for the petitioner has also relied upon the Government order No.SA-3-1901/10-2002-971/80 dated 30.10.2002, which provides for payment of interest on delay in payment of gratuity and post retiral benefits beyond a period of 3 months from the date they are payable.
Under the circumstances, this Court considers it appropriate to award the same rate of interest on the delayed payment as has been awarded by the Division Bench in Smt. Nazma Khatoon(supra), the rate being 8%.
For the reasons given above, this writ petition is allowed. The impugned order passed by the District Inspector of Schools, Sambhal dated 01.01.2018 is hereby set aside. The respondents are directed to calculate the gratuity payable to the petitioner along with 8% interest thereon by a speaking order and to ensure payment of the said amount to the petitioner within a period of six weeks from the date, a certified copy of this order is filed before him."
In the facts of the case delay of about two years in payment of retiral benefits has been occasioned for no fault of the petitioner. Respondents, therefore, were not justified in denying interest to petitioner. Consequently, order dated 10.01.2013, passed by the District Panchayat Raj Officer, Fatehpur stands quashed. A mandamus is issued to respondents to pay 8% simple interest to petitioner from the date of his retirement till actual payment of retiral benefits in the year 2012. Such amount shall be paid within a period of three months from the date of presentation of a copy of this order.
Writ petition stands allowed.
Order Date :- 6.8.2021
Ashok Kr.
