Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Debdas Chatterjee vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors on 17 May, 2023
17.05.2023 IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
DL-128 CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION
(PP) APPELLATE SIDE
WPA 11916 of 2023
Debdas Chatterjee
Vs.
The State of West Bengal & Ors.
Mr. Srinjay Sengupta,
Mr. Saurav Roy,
Mr. Narattam Acharyya,
Mr. Ankush Ghosh,
....for the petitioner.
Mr. Niladri Bhattacharjee,
Ms. Sristi Paul
.....for WBTCL.
Mr. Tarun Kumar Ghosh,
Mr. Benazir Ahmed
.....for the State.
Affidavit of service filed in Court today is
retained with the records.
The writ petitioner was an 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 June 30,
2010.
The writ petitioner prays for disbursement of
interest on the arrears of pay 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' ).
2
The petitioner also prays for the benefits under
the Office Memoranda dated June 23, 2000 and July
21, 2000. The petitioner was required to be paid
the said arrears by five annual installments from
November 1, 2002. The petitioner was paid the
said arrears by 2008.
Mr. Srinjay Sengupta, learned counsel
appearing on behalf of the petitioner states that
he 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 June 23, 2000 and July 21,
2000.
The petitioner is entitled to claim such
interest. Due to the assurance made by the
employer/State, the claim of the petitioner has
attained a statutory colour. 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
installments 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.
The writ petition, WPA 11916 of 2023 stands
disposed of.
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.
All parties shall act on the server copies of
this order duly downloaded from the official
Website of this Hon'ble Court.
(Lapita Banerji, J.)
