Allahabad High Court
Rashid Husain And 3 Others vs State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief ... on 6 April, 2023
Bench: Dinesh Kumar Singh
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Court No. - 17
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 2573 of 2023
Petitioner :- Rashid Husain And 3 Others
Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. Cooperative Deptt., Lko. And 3 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Awadhesh Kumar Tiwari
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Dinesh Kumar Singh,J.
Heard Shri Awadhesh Kumar Tiwari, learned Counsel for the petitioners and learned Standing Counsel for the State-respondents.
The present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed seeking following reliefs:-
"(i) issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the opposite party no.1 to pass necessary orders of sanctioning grant/money to the Registrar cum Commissioner, Cooperatives Societies with direction to ensure the regular pension of petitioners including arrears forthwith.
(ii) issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the opposite parties to ensure the payment of regular pension to the petitioners including arrears alongwith interest and compensate the petitioners on account of delayed payment of regular pension in view of settled principles of law.
(iii)...
(iv)..."
It is not in dispute that the issue involved in this writ petition is covered by the judgment and order dated 22.11.2022 passed by this Court in Writ A No.5812 of 2022 (Rajaram Pal Vs. State of U.P. and Others). The order dated 22.11.2022 would read as under:-
"1. Heard Sri Manish Mani Sharma, learned counsel for the petitioner as well as learned Standing Counsel for the respondents.
2. It has been submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that he was working on the post of "kurk amin" since 1987 and retired from service on 31.07.2010. After his retirement he was getting his pension according to U.P. Cooperative Societies Act, 1955, till the same was stopped without any order or reason being communicated to the petitioner and consequently he has approached this Court seeking direction to the respondents to pay arrears of his pension from July, 2011 till date.
3. On the basis of instructions, learned Standing Counsel has submitted that due to paucity of funds pension could not be paid to the petitioner.
4. Per contra Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that by means of order dated 08.06.2021, Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Lucknow has withdrawn all money from District Cooperative Bank to the account of District Fund
e basis of instructions received from Assistant Commissioner and Assistant Registrar, Cooperatives, Kausambi it has been informed to this Court that an amount of Rs.272197/- is admittedly outstanding towards the petitioner toward his pension from July, 2021 to August, 2022. Admittedly, the petitioner is not being paid pension though it seems that subsequently dues for July, 2021 has been disbursed to the petitioner by means of cheque.
6. It has been submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that the funds from Districts has been transferred to State fund account and it is only because of the said transfer the petitioner and other similarly situated persons are not getting their pension. Accordingly, it has been stated that the petitioners are entitled for pension only from the funds received as commission realized by the Amins and other employees etc. and because collection has been stopped by the order of the State Government no funds are coming to the said account or likely to come till the order is operative and the respondents have not addressed to the basic question in the present case as to how the petitioners and other similarly situated persons will be paid their pension.
7. Learned counsel for petitioner has further submitted that according to the Rule 21-A of the Uttar Pradesh Co-operative Collection Fund and the Amins and Others Staff Service (First Amendment) Rules, 2005, which is with regard to the salary for benefits of Kurk Amin, it is provided that in case there is any difficulty in disbursement of salary to such persons, the State Government shall give a matching grant which may be returned back from the amount collected by the collection incharge in the State Treasury.
8. He submits that the Rule 21-A of the said Rules, covers the situation as has crept up in the present case. It is stated stand of the respondents in the counter affidavit, due to paucity of funds the payment of pension cannot be made to the petitioner. It has also been pointed out that the said amounts has been withdrawn from the districts and deposited in the State level accounts. This difficulty can be removed by invoking provisions of Rule 21-A and accordingly, the State Government should provide a grant to the respondents to meet out their pension and other dues and the same would be liable to be refunded in terms of the provisions made in the said Rules.
9. In light of the above, the writ petition is allowed. The respondent No. 1 is directed to pass necessary orders of sanctioning grant/money to the Registrar-cum-Commissioner, Cooperatives, Lucknow who shall ensure that the petitioners and other similarly situated retired persons are given their pension regularly including arrears. The Registrar-cum-Commissioner, Cooperatives, Lucknow shall also ensure that the said grant is paid back in terms of Rule 21 -A.
10. Let necessary orders and action be done by the respondents expeditiously, say, within six weeks from the date a certified copy of this order is produced before them."
Account. As the petitioner was being paid pension from District Cooperative Bank account, and since no funds remaining, pension of the petitioner could not be paid.
5. On the basis of instructions received from Assistant Commissioner and Assistant Registrar, Cooperatives, Kausambi it has been informed to this Court that an amount of Rs.272197/- is admittedly outstanding towards the petitioner toward his pension from July, 2021 to August, 2022. Admittedly, the petitioner is not being paid pension though it seems that subsequently dues for July, 2021 has been disbursed to the petitioner by means of cheque.
6. It has been submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that the funds from Districts has been transferred to State fund account and it is only because of the said transfer the petitioner and other similarly situated persons are not getting their pension. Accordingly, it has been stated that the petitioners are entitled for pension only from the funds received as commission realized by the Amins and other employees etc. and because collection has been stopped by the order of the State Government no funds are coming to the said account or likely to come till the order is operative and the respondents have not addressed to the basic question in the present case as to how the petitioners and other similarly situated persons will be paid their pension.
7. Learned counsel for petitioner has further submitted that according to the Rule 21-A of the Uttar Pradesh Co-operative Collection Fund and the Amins and Others Staff Service (First Amendment) Rules, 2005, which is with regard to the salary for benefits of Kurk Amin, it is provided that in case there is any difficulty in disbursement of salary to such persons, the State Government shall give a matching grant which may be returned back from the amount collected by the collection incharge in the State Treasury.
8. He submits that the Rule 21-A of the said Rules, covers the situation as has crept up in the present case. It is stated stand of the respondents in the counter affidavit, due to paucity of funds the payment of pension cannot be made to the petitioner. It has also been pointed out that the said amounts has been withdrawn from the districts and deposited in the State level accounts. This difficulty can be removed by invoking provisions of Rule 21-A and accordingly, the State Government should provide a grant to the respondents to meet out their pension and other dues and the same would be liable to be refunded in terms of the provisions made in the said Rules.
9. In light of the above, the writ petition is allowed. The respondent No. 1 is directed to pass necessary orders of sanctioning grant/money to the Registrar-cum-Commissioner, Cooperatives, Lucknow who shall ensure that the petitioners and other similarly situated retired persons are given their pension regularly including arrears. The Registrar-cum-Commissioner, Cooperatives, Lucknow shall also ensure that the said grant is paid back in terms of Rule 21 -A.
10. Let necessary orders and action be done by the respondents expeditiously, say, within six weeks from the date a certified copy of this order is produced before them."
In view thereof, the present petition is also disposed of in terms of the judgment and order dated 22.11.2022 passed in Rajaram Pal (Supra).
(Dinesh Kumar Singh, J.)
Order Date :- 6.4.2023
Piyush/-
