Ashalata Das vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors
2021 Latest Caselaw 5313 Cal

Ct. 05 Item No.154 01.10.2021 (suvendu)

WPA 9137 OF 2021

(VIA VIDEO CONFERENCE)

Ashalata Das Vs.

The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Sandip Ghosh ..............for the petitioner Mr. Neelam Singh ................for the State

Affidavit of service filed in Court today is

taken on record.

The husband of the writ petitioner is a retired

teacher, who superannuated on 28th February,

1999. After superannuation of the husband of the

writ petitioner, first Pension Payment Order issued

on 17th January, 2001 and as per the first Pension

Payment Order disbursement was made

accordingly. Subsequently, due to revision of pay

as per ROPA 1998, second Pension Payment Order

issued on 21st March, 2002 and disbursement as

per revised Pension Payment Order was made on

11th May, 2004. Meanwhile, husband of the writ

petitioner died on 6th December, 2005. The writ

petitioner, being widow of deceased retired

teacher, claims interest on delayed payment of

revised gratuity as per revised Pension Payment

Order.

The entitlement of the writ petitioner to interest

on delayed payment of gratuity due to

superannuation of husband of the writ petitioner has

already been decided in the writ petition being WP

No. 4600(W) of 2019 (Rabindra Kumar

Bhattacharjee vs. State of West Bengal and Ors.)

wherein upon placing reliance on judgment of the

Apex Court in the case of Union of India vs. Tarsem

Singh, reported in (2008) 8 SCC 648 on condoning

delay in approaching the Court for payment of

interest on gratuity the said writ petition was allowed

by extending the benefit on delayed payment of

gratuity upon due consideration of the fact that there

is no accrual of third party interest and mater relates

to payment of retiral dues.

Taking note of the observations made by the

coordinate Bench in the order dated 17 th April, 2019

passed in WP No. 4600(W) of 2019 (Rabindra Kumar

Bhattacharjee vs. State of West Bengal and Ors.)

this Court finds it apposite to grant interest on

gratuity to the writ petitioner due to delay in

releasing the said amount.

Accordingly, the Director of Pension,

Provident Fund and Group Insurance and the

concerned Treasury Officer are directed to pay

interest at the rate of Rs.8% per annum to the writ

petitioner on delayed payment of revised gratuity as

per revised Pension Paytment Order from 1st March,

1999 till the date of actual disbursement of the

revised gratuity amount in favour of the deceased

husband of the writ petitioner, within a period of

eight weeks from the date of communication of this

order.

Since no affidavit is called for the allegations

contained in the writ petition are deemed not to have

been admitted.

With the above observation, the writ petition

stands disposed of.

There shall be no order as to costs.

Urgent photostat certified copy of this order,

if applied for, is to be given to the parties upon

compliance with the necessary formalities.

(Saugata Bhattacharyya, J.)