Md. Saifuddin vs The State Of West Bengal And Ors
2023 Latest Caselaw 4359 Cal

19.07.2023
Court No.25
Item No.238
   Sws.M


                               WPA 15060 of 2023

                                 Md. Saifuddin
                                      Vs.
                       The State of West Bengal and Ors.


                   Ms. Srabani Biswas
                                                    ... For the Petitioner.


                   Mr. Niladri Bhattacharjee
                   Ms. Angana Dutta
                                     ... For the respondent -corporation.

Mr. Raja Ram Banerjee ... For the State

The writ petitioner was a permanent employee of

the West Bengal Transport Corporation Limited (in short

'the WBTCL') previously known as the Calcutta

Tramways Company (1978) Limited. The writ petitioner

retired from his service on February 29, 2016.

The writ petitioner prays for interest on delayed

disbursement of retiral dues, from March 1, 2016 (the

date succeeding the date of retirement) till August 1, 2016

(the date on which the retiral benefits have actually been

paid) on the sum of Rs.18,15,239.13/-being the total

retiral dues.

The issue of payment of interest on delayed

payment of retiral benefits has been considered by the

Hon'ble Supreme Court in two judgments reported in 2021

(11) SCC 543 (State of Andhra Pradesh & Anr. Vs.

Dinavahi Lakshmi Kameswari) and also in 2022 (4) SCC

627 (Dr. A. Selvaraj Vs. CBM College & Ors.). In Selvaraj

(supra) it was held that the delay in payment of retiral

benefits was due to no fault on the part of the petitioner. It

was an obligation on the part of the employer to process

the retiral benefits and pay the same within one month of

the date of the petitioner's retirement. Since the payment

was not made within one month, the interest was held to

date back to the petitioner's date of retirement.

Following the aforesaid judgements of the Apex

Court and also the judgement passed by Co-ordinate

Bench of this Hon'ble Court in WPO No.2279 of 2022

(Swapan Kumar Das vs. The State of West Bengal), this

Court holds that interest at the rate of 6 per cent per

annum should be paid by the respondent company to the

petitioner from March 1, 2016 (the date succeeding the

date of retirement) till August 1, 2016 (the date on which

the retiral benefits have actually been paid) for late

disbursement of post retiral benefits within three months

from date. In the event there is any default in payment of

interest within the stipulated period, the rate of interest

will stand increased to 10 per cent per annum being the

rate payable at present under the Payment of Gratuities

Act, 1972.

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.

Since affidavits have not been invited in the

present writ petition, the allegations made in the writ

petition are deemed not to have been admitted by the

parties.

With the aforesaid directions, the writ petition,

being WPA 15060 of 2023 is disposed of.

All parties are to act on a server copy of this order

downloaded from the official website of this Hon'ble Court.

Urgent certified website copies of this order, if

applied for, be made available to the parties subject to

compliance with all requisite formalities.

(Lapita Banerji, J.)