Usha Devi vs Himachal Road Transport ...
2021 Latest Caselaw 360 HP

HON'BLE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT SHIMLA

CWP No.121 of 2021 alongwith CWPs No.55, 122 to 125, 128 to 138, 187 to

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192 and 195 of 2021.

Decided on: January 07, 2021

CWP No.121 of 2021

Usha Devi .............Petitioner Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________

CWP No.55 of 2021 Daljeet Singh .............Petitioner Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents

_______________________________________________________________

CWP No.122 of 2021 Sham Singh .............Petitioner Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents

_______________________________________________________________ CWP No.123 of 2021 Yudhi Lal .............Petitioner Versus

Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents

_______________________________________________________________ CWP No.124 of 2021 Kamlesh Kumar .............Petitioner

Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________ CWP No.125 of 2021 Piar Chand .............Petitioner Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________

CWP No.128 of 2021 Tara Chand .............Petitioner Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________

.

CWP No.129 of 2021

Jagdish Chand .............Petitioner Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents

_______________________________________________________________ CWP No.130 of 2021 Leela Devi .............Petitioner Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation

and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________ CWP No.131 of 2021 Karnail Singh .............Petitioner r Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation

and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________ CWP No.132 of 2021 Guman Singh .............Petitioner

Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________

CWP No.133 of 2021 Pratap Singh .............Petitioner

Versus

Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents

_______________________________________________________________ CWP No.134 of 2021 Gulab Singh .............Petitioner Versus

Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________

CWP No.135 of 2021 Mohan Lal .............Petitioner Versus

Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents

.

_______________________________________________________________

CWP No.136 of 2021 Rajinder Singh .............Petitioner Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation

and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________ CWP No.137 of 2021 Mohan Lal .............Petitioner Versus

Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________ CWP No.138 of 2021 Nand Lal r .............Petitioner Versus

Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________

CWP No.187 of 2021 Chander Dev .............Petitioner Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation

and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________

CWP No.188 of 2021 Main Ram .............Petitioner Versus

Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________ CWP No.189 of 2021 Joginder Singh .............Petitioner Versus

Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________

CWP No.190 of 2021 Kamlesh Kumar .............Petitioner Versus

Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents

.

_______________________________________________________________

CWP No.191 of 2021 Surat Singh .............Petitioner Versus Himachal Road Transport Corporation

and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________ CWP No.192 of 2021 Bir Singh .............Petitioner Versus

Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________ CWP No.195 of 2021 Kishori Lal r .............Petitioner Versus

Himachal Road Transport Corporation and another ........Respondents _______________________________________________________________ Coram:

Hon'ble Mr. Justice L. Narayana Swamy, Chief Justice. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ravi Malimath, Judge.

Whether approved for reporting?1

For the petitioner(s) : Mr. Shivendra Singh, Advocate.

For the respondents Mr. :Shyam Singh Chauhan, Advocate.

(Through video conferencing) ________________________________________________________ L. Narayana Swamy, Chief Justice (Oral).

Learned counsel for both the parties submit that the

case of the petitioner(s) is squarely covered by the judgment

Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes.

dated 02.11.2020, passed by this Court in CWP No.4471/2020,

titled Gian Chand versus HRTC and others, alongwith

connected matters, and pray that the instant writ petitions may

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be disposed of in terms of the aforesaid judgment.

2. In Gian Chand's case supra, this Court 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

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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."

3. In view of the above, we deem it proper to dispose of

the present writ petitions with a direction to the respondents to

pay the entire retiral dues, along with statutory interest, to the

petitioner(s) on the entire amount on or before 30th April, 2021.

4. Pending miscellaneous application(s), if any, shall

also stand disposed of.

Copy 'Dasti'.

                                              (L. Narayana Swamy)
                                                   Chief Justice






                                                 (Ravi Malimath)
    January 07, 2021                                 Judge
     (Yashwant/Himalvi)