Sanaka Mondal vs The State Of West Bengal And Ors
2022 Latest Caselaw 5564 Cal

17.08.2022
Court No.13
Item No.695
AP


                                 WPA 12426 of 2022

                                  Sanaka Mondal
                                        Vs.
                         The State of West Bengal and Ors.

              Mr. Krishna Pada Santra
                                                   ... For the Petitioner.

              Ms. Kum Kum Das
                                                       ... For the State.

                        Affidavit of service file in Court today is taken
              on record.
                        The petitioner was a clerk of a school, who
              retired on 31.01.2016.       The first pension payment
              order was issued on 16.02.2016.          Under the ROPA
              Rules, 2019 there was revision of the pensionary and
              gratuity amount payable to the petitioner.              The
              revised    pension    payment    order   was   issued   on
              09.12.2021 and the revised gratuity and revised
              arrear pension amount was disbursed on 10.12.2021
              in terms of ROPA, 2019.            The petitioner claims
              interest on delayed payment of the revised gratuity
              and revised arrear pension amount.
                         There is a considerable delay in filing of the
              writ petition, which the petitioner seeks to justify by
              stating that there is no statutory period of limitation
              and neither parties have suffered due to this delay. It
              is the submission of the petitioner that accordingly
              the petition should be allowed.
                        The petitioner relies upon an order in W.P.
              17557 (W) of 2017 (Narayan Chandra Saha vs. State
              of West Bengal & Ors.) wherein a co-ordinate Bench
              had relied upon the Supreme Court judgment in the
              case of Union of India vs. Tarsem Singh, reported in
              (2008) 8 SCC 648 on the issue of limitation relating to
              payment or refixation of pay or pension wherein the
              Apex Court had held that relief may be granted in
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spite of delay as it does not affect the rights of the
third party.
       In view of the above and after hearing the
learned Counsel for the parties, I direct the Director
of Pension, Provident Fund and Group Insurance,
Government of West Bengal as also the concerned
Treasury Officer to pay interest to the petitioner @ 8%
per annum on the revised gratuity and revised arrear
pension amount calculated on and from 14.02.2020
till the date of actual payment. Such payment is to
be made within a period of eight weeks from the date
of communication of this order.
       With these observations, the writ petition is
disposed of.
       Since, no affidavit-in-opposition          has   been
called for, the allegations made in the writ petition are
deemed    to   have       not   been   admitted    by    the
respondents.

There will be no order as to costs. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be given to the parties, on priority basis.

(Rajasekhar Mantha, J.)