Sutapa Karmakar vs The State Of West Bengal And Ors
2023 Latest Caselaw 5469 Cal

23.08.2023
Court No.25
Item No.41
   Sws.M


                                WPA 19909 of 2023

                                Sutapa Karmakar
                                       Vs.
                        The State of West Bengal and Ors.


              Mr. Srinjay Sengupta
              Mr. Saurav Roy
              Mr. Narattam Acharya
              Mr. Ankush Ghosh
                                   ... For the Petitioner.

              Mr. Niladri Bhattacharjee
              Ms. Deblina Chattaraj
                            ... For the respondent WBTCL.

Mr. Avirup Mondal Mr. Soumen Chatterjee ... For the State

Affidavit of service filed by the petitioner is

taken on record.

The writ petitioner's husband was an employee

of the West Bengal Transport Corporation Limited (in

short "WBTCL") previously known as the Calcutta

Tramways Company (1978) Limited. The writ

petitioner's husband joined his service on July 02, 1987.

The petitioner's husband retired from service on

September 30, 2019.

The writ petitioner prays for disbursement of

interest on the arrears of pay payable since April 1,

1997 to March 31, 2000. The writ petitioner prays

for calculation of interest from April 1, 2000.

The writ petitioner claims interest on delayed

payments for benefits under the Revision of Pay and

Allowance Rules, 1998 (in short, 'ROPA').

The petitioner also prays for the benefits under

the Office Memoranda dated June 23, 2000 and July 21,

2000. The petitioner's husband was required to be

paid the arrears by five annual instalments from

November 1, 2002. The petitioner's husband was paid

the said arrears by 2008.

Mr. Sengupta, learned counsel appearing on

behalf of the petitioner states that she is entitled to

interest for this delay in payment of arrears. The

petitioner became entitled to interest on arrears on

account of delay beyond the scheduled date of

payment assured under the Memorandum dated July 21,

2000.

The petitioner is entitled to claim such interest. A

beneficial reference may be made to an order/judgment

passed by the Hon'ble Division Bench in F.M.A. 3942 of

2016 (Amarnath Tiwari & Ors. vs. State of West Bengal

& Ors.). This Court is of the view that the laws of

limitation are not applicable in exercise of jurisdiction

under Article 226 of the Constitution of India relying on a

judgment passed by the Apex Court reported in 2022 Live

Law (SC) 785 (State of Rajasthan & Ors. Vs. O.P. Gupta).

It has also been held in the said decision that the Court

cannot be oblivious to the difficulties of a retired employee

in approaching the Court, which could include financial

constraints.

The respondent shall pay interest from the

scheduled date of payment of the annual instalments by

which the arrears were promised to be paid under the

Memorandum dated July 21, 2000 till the date on which

they were finally paid in 2008.

Interest to be paid @ 7% per annum within

a period of three months from the date of

communication of this order without insisting of

production of certified copy thereof.

In default of the payment of the aforesaid

interest within a period of three months from date, the

rate of interest shall be increased to @ 8% per annum.

Since no affidavits have been invited in the

writ petition, the allegations in the writ petition be

deemed not to have been admitted by the parties.

The writ petition, WPA 19909 of 2023 is

disposed of.

There will be no order as to costs.

All parties to act on the server copies of this

order duly downloaded from the official website of

this Hon'ble Court.

(Lapita Banerji, J.)