Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Chandra Pal vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors on 11 October, 2023
11.10.2023 IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
DL-156 CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION
(PP) APPELLATE SIDE
WPA 23472 of 2023
Subhas Chandra Pal @ Subhash
Chandra Pal
Vs.
The State of West Bengal & Ors.
Mr. Golam Mohammad
....for the petitioner.
Ms. Deblina Chattaraj,
Ms. Angana Dutta
.....for WBTCL.
Affidavit of service filed in Court today is
retained with the records.
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 October 31,
2017.
The writ petitioner prays for interest on delayed
disbursement of retiral dues. The retiral dues
aggregating Rs.5,18,236/- was disbursed to the
petitioner on January 2, 2018 and also a sum of
Rs.17,27,171/- as retiral dues was disbursed on
January 6, 2018.
The issue of payment of interest on delayed
payment of retiral benefits has been considered by the
2
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 on Rs.5,18,236/- should be paid by the
respondent company to the petitioner from November
1, 2017 (the date succeeding the date of retirement) to
January 2, 2018, (the date on which the retiral
benefits have actually been paid) and on
Rs.17,27,171/- from November 1, 2017 (the date
succeeding the date of retirement) to January 6, 2018,
(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 23472 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.)
