Swapan Kumar Poddar vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors
2023 Latest Caselaw 6980 Cal

11.10.2023             IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
  DL-150             CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION
   (PP)                     APPELLATE SIDE
                            WPA 23380 of 2023

                          Swapan Kumar Poddar
                                   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,

             2021.

                     The writ petitioner prays for interest on delayed

             disbursement     of   retiral   dues.   The   retiral   dues

             aggregating Rs.16,58,659/- was disbursed to the

             petitioner on January 13, 2022 and also a sum of

             Rs.31,66,564/- as retiral dues was disbursed on

             January 19, 2022.

                     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
                      2




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.16,58,659/- should be paid by the

respondent company to the petitioner from November

1, 2021 (the date succeeding the date of retirement) to

January 13, 2022, (the date on which the retiral

benefits have actually been paid) and on

Rs.31,66,564/- from November 1, 2021 (the date

succeeding the date of retirement) to January 19,

2022, (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.

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 23380 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.)