Himachal Pradesh High Court
Madan Lal vs H.R.T.C. & Others on 1 January, 2021
Bench: L. Narayana Swamy, Anoop Chitkara
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA
CWP No. 6418 of 2020
.
Date of Decision: January 01, 2021.
Madan Lal ...Petitioner
Versus
H.R.T.C. & others ...Respondents
Coram:
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice L. Narayana Swamy, Chief Justice.
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Anoop Chitkara, Judge.
Whether approved for reporting?1 No.
For the petitioner
r : Mr. H.R. Bhardwaj, Advocate.
For the respondents : Mrs. Shubh Mahajan, Advocate.
COURT PROCEEDINGS CONVENED THROUGH VIDEO CONFERENCE
Anoop Chitkara, Judge(oral)
A retired Inspector, who worked with the respondent
Himachal Road Transport Corporation till 31.01.2020, has come
up before this Court seeking directions for release of his entire
retiral dues including pension, gratuity (DCRG), leave
encashment etc. along with interest.
2. Notice. Mrs. Shubh Mahajan, Advocate appears and
waives service on behalf of the respondents.
3. Learned standing counsel for HRTC states that this
Court has passed a detailed order in CWP No.4471 of 2020 and
similar orders be passed in this petition.
Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
4. Given the nature of the order, we propose to pass no
written instructions/response is required to be filed from the
.
respondents.
5. In CWP No.4471/2020 titled Gian Chand Versus HRTC
and others, after hearing the management of the HRTC, we had
passed the following order:
"3. Ms. Shubh Mahajan, leaned Senior Counsel
representing the respondent-Corporation, submits
that out of total strength of 9691 employees, 6739
employees have retired from service and monthly
retiral benefits have been paid to 6516 employees.
It is further submitted that the monthly pension of
remaining 223 employees would be paid regularly
from the end of this month. In respect of retiral
benefits, learned Senior Counsel submits that it
includes commutted pension, DCRG, leave
encashment and arrears.
4. In the affidavit dated 29th October, 2020, it has
been stated that the Board of Directors of
respondent-Corporation have approved the creation
of separate Pension Account, directing to transfer
7% of the passenger receipt on daily basis to the
said account and the decision of the Board of
Directors was implemented w.e.f. 06.03.2019.
5. Though it is the duty of the respondent-
Corporation to pay retiral benefits immediately after
superannuation, but because of Corona pandemic
the respondent-Corporation has not collected
revenue since lock-down. Virtually for more than six
months regular income has come down to a few
lakhs in place of crores. For the said reason, the
respondent-Corporation find it difficult to settle the
retiral benefits.
6. Learned Senior Counsel submits that: (i) in
respect of leave encashment and DCRG, principal
amount of DCRG upto October 2017 and principal
amount of leave encashment upto August 2016
stands paid. Post March 2021 whatever funds shall
be collected, will be disbursed in the order of
retirement. However, in respect of leave
encashment and DCRG, whosoever approaches the
.
respondent-Corporation in exceptional
circumstances i.e. death cases, marriage of the
children, education of the children, serious ailments
and repayment of house loan, the same shall be
considered as an exceptional case and disbursed at
the earliest; (ii) in respect of 223 retired employees,
the commutted value would be paid within four
months from today strictly in order of retirement;
and
(iii) it is further submitted by the learned Senior
Counsel on instructions from the officers, who are
present in Court, that the arrears on the entire
delayed payment will be paid with statutory interest
on the entire amount."
6. Given above, we take on record the submissions of
the learned counsel for the respondent and direct that the
respondents shall pay to the petitioner the entire retiral dues
along with statutory interest on the entire amount on or before
30.4.2021.
7. Accordingly, this petition shall stand disposed of
along with pending application(s), if any.
Copy dasti.
(L. Narayana Swamy),
Chief Justice.
(Anoop Chitkara),
January 01, 2021 (ps) Judge.
