Allahabad High Court
Bhagwan Das vs State Of U.P. And Others on 23 August, 2023
Bench: Kshitij Shailendra
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:170833
Court No. - 10
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 65545 of 2006
Petitioner :- Bhagwan Das
Respondent :- State of U.P. and Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- P.C. Pandey
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,A.N. Tiwari,Nilamber Tripathi,Vivek Verma
Hon'ble Kshitij Shailendra,J.
1. Heard Shri P.C.Pandey, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel for the State and Shri Nilamber Tripathi, learned counsel appearing on behalf of respondents.
2. Having heard learned counsel for the parties on the last occasion, this Court passed following order on 4.8.2023:
"1. The petitioner has retired from services on 07.07.1996 and although prayer made in this writ petition is with regard to payment of arrears of pension and other retiral dues, it is contended that there is no grievance as on today, insofar as the payment of pension is concerned but insofar as the gratuity amount is concerned, though the same has been paid to the petitioner on 15.02.2007, the only grievance is that the petitioner is entitled to get interest on delayed payment of gratuity as per the Statute and the law settled to this effect.
2. List this case on 23.08.2023 in the top ten cases.
3. On the next date fixed, learned counsel for the petitioner shall bring the statutory provisions as well as judgments of the Supreme Court whereby interest on gratuity has to be mandatorily paid."
3. Today, learned counsel for the petitioner while pressing Section 7(3-A) of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 (herein after referred to as 'the Act, 1972) has argued that since admittedly no interest has been paid on the gratuity and the petitioner retired in 1996 and was paid gratuity after 11 years in 2007, he is entitled to get interest as per the aforesaid provision.
4. He has placed reliance upon judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of State of UP and others vs. Dhirendra Pal Singh, 2017 (1) SCC 49 with special reference to paragraphs 10 and 11 thereof, which are reproduced as follows:
"10. In State of Kerala and others vs. M.Padmanabhan Nair, (1985) 1 SCC 429; this Court has held that pension and gratuity are no longer any bounty to be distributed by the Government to its employees on the retirement but are valuable rights in their hands, and any culpable delay in disbursement thereof must be visited with the penalty of payment of interest. In said case the Court approved 6% per annum interest on the amount of pension decreed by the trial court and affirmed by the High Court. As to the rate of interest on amount of gratuity Section 7(3-A) of Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, it is provided that if the amount of gratuity payable is not paid by the employer within the period specified in sub-section (3), the employer shall pay, from the date on which gratuity becomes payable to the date on which it is paid, simple interest at such rate, not exceeding the rate notified by the Central Government from time to time for repayment of long term deposits, as that Government may by notification specify. It further provides that no such interest shall be payable if the delay in payment is due to the fault of the employee, and the employer has obtained permission in writing from the controlling authority for the delayed payment on this ground. In the present case, there is no plea before us that the appellants had sought any permission in writing from the controlling authority. As to the delay on the part of employee, it has come on the record that he made representations, whereafter he filed a suit in respect of withheld amount of gratuity and pension. In V.K.Singla vs. Punjab National Bank and others, (2013) 3 SCC 472; this Court, after discussing the issue relating to interest payable on the amount of gratuity not paid within time, directed that interest at the rate of 8% per annum shall be paid on the amount of gratuity.
11. In the light of law laid down by this Court, as above, and further considering the facts and circumstances of the case, we modify the impugned order passed by the High Court in respect of interest directed to be paid on the amount of withheld gratuity and pension. We direct that the appellants shall pay interest at the rate of 6% per annum on the unpaid amount of pension from the date it had fallen due and interest at the rate of 8% per annum on the unpaid amount of gratuity from the date of retirement of the employee."
5. Considering the law laid down by the Apex Court and fixation of 8% per annum as interest on the amount of unpaid gratuity and the delay occurred in respect thereto, the writ petition is disposed of directing the respondents 2, 3 and 4 to jointly compute the interest on the delayed payment of gratuity @ 8% per annum from the date when the amount of gratuity became due till the date when it was paid to the petitioner and pay the said amount of interest to the petitioner within a period of three months from the date, a certified copy of this order is produced before them.
Order Date :- 23.8.2023
LN Tripathi
