B.Devaraj vs Tamil Nadu State Transport ...
2021 Latest Caselaw 23862 Mad

Citation : 2021 Latest Caselaw 23862 Mad
Judgement Date : 6 December, 2021

Madras High Court

B.Devaraj vs Tamil Nadu State Transport ... on 6 December, 2021

                                        W.P.No.23795, 23796, 23797, 23798, 23955, 24045, 24887 of 2021

                                    IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

                                                     DATED:06.12.2021

                                                              Coram

                                           The Hon'ble Mr. Justice V.PARTHIBAN

                      W.P.Nos.23795, 23796, 23797, 23798, 23955, 24045, 24887 of 2021

                     W.P.No.23795/2021

                     B.Devaraj                                                           ...Petitioner

                                                               Vs.

                     Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation
                       (Coimbatore) Limited,
                     Represented by its Managing Director,
                     Mettupalayam Road,
                     Coimbatore - 600 043
                                                                                      ...Respondent

PRAYER: Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying to issue a writ of Mandamus directing the respondent to pay interest at the rate of 6% per annum for bleated payment of his P.F., Gratuity, and encashment of earned leave/sick leave, at the rate of 12% per annum, within a specified time as may be fixed by Hon'ble Court.

                                       For Petitioners   ..    Mr.Ajay Khose

                                        For Respondent ..      Mr.A.Sundaravadanam
                                                               Standing Counsel

                                                     COMMON ORDER

                                  In all these writ petitions, the     prayer is for the grant of

interest for the belated settlement of retirement benefits like P.F,

Gratuity, and encashment of Earned Leave/sick leave etc. As a

https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis

W.P.No.23795, 23796, 23797, 23798, 23955, 24045, 24887 of 2021

matter of fact, this Court, both Single Judges and Division Benches

dealt with such prayer earlier for payment of interest for the belated

settlement of retirement benefits to the retired transport employees.

2.The Courts have been granting payment of interest @ 4% or

6% as the case may be. In some cases, the Division Bench of this

Court has granted 6% interest and in few other cases this Court has

granted 4% interest. On the whole, this Court finds that, there is no

consensus as to whether 4% or 6% to be granted in such matters

where the employees have been settled their retirement benefits

belatedly due to resource crunch faced by the State Corporation.

3. Today, when this batch of writ petitions have been taken up

for hearing, there was a clamour for claiming higher interest of 6

percent and it was also opposed by the counsels who are

representing the corporations. According to them in a recent decision

of the learned Judge of this Court in W.P.No.23229 of 2021 dated

28.10.2021, after taking into account the various earlier orders, has

granted only 4 percent interest. Per contra, the learned counsel

Mr.L.Chandra Kumar and Mr.Ajay khoshe would rely on a decision of

the Division Bench of this Court in W.A.(MD).No.1349 & 1350 of 2021

dated 12.07.2021, wherein there was a direction to pay 6% interest.

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W.P.No.23795, 23796, 23797, 23798, 23955, 24045, 24887 of 2021

A learned Judge of this Court following the above Division Bench

Judgment in Writ Appeal No.1349 & 1350 of 2021, in a batch of Writ

Petitions in W.P.Nos.15636, 15640, 15647, 15651, 15654 & 15656 of

2021 dated 29.07.2021 has once again granted 6% interest for the

delayed payments. One other learned Judge of this Court vide order

dated 02.07.2021 in W.P.No.10553 of 2021 has ordered 6% interest.

Therefore, learned counsels appearing on behalf of the petitioners

would pray for 6% interest as majority of the judges have granted

the same.

4.At this learned counsels representing the Corporations

uniformly submitted that already the Corporations have suffered

huge losses due to Covid-19 situation prevailing in State for more

than 20 months. The Corporations would be unable to mobilize and

come up with funds to pay 6% interest. The Corporations are already

facing severe financial strain, and unable to sustain itself and any

further increase in the percentage of interest to be paid to the

employees, it would result in severe financial burden on the

corporation, which the Corporations would be unable to bear. The

Corporations would also have to take into consideration the serving

employees and the retiring employees also in future. Therefore, a

passionate request has been made before this Court for grant of 4%

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W.P.No.23795, 23796, 23797, 23798, 23955, 24045, 24887 of 2021

interest which should be reasonable and fair to compensate belated

payments made to the retired employees.

5. In consideration of the request emanating from the learned

Standing counsels for the Corporations, which appear to this Court to

be fair and reasonable considering the weak financial position of the

Corporations, this Court persuaded the learned counsels appearing

for the petitioners to accept 4% interest. All the counsels who are

representing the parties today have uniformly accepted 4% interest

to be payable on the belated payments made to the petitioners.

During the course of argument it is also agreed by all the counsels of

the corporation that the 4% interest payable would be settled in one

lump-sum, if 8 weeks time is granted to the Corporation.

6.In view of the consensus being reached by the parties, these

writ petitions are disposed of with the following directions;

The Corporation is directed to pay 4% interest to

all the employees who have been settled belatedly their

retirement benefits within a period of 8 weeks from the

receipt of copy of order of this Court. In case, some of

the employees who have not been settled their portion of

the retirement benefits as such are also entitled to be

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W.P.No.23795, 23796, 23797, 23798, 23955, 24045, 24887 of 2021

paid 4% interest till they receive the actual retirement

benefits in full.

Those payments would also carry 4% till the date it

is fully released by the corporation. The interest of 4%

would cover the period of 8 weeks from the date of

receipt of copy of this order.

Any further default of the payments by the

corporation, the interest would be enhanced to 6 percent

after the expiry of 8 weeks of period of time and such

percentage would become payable till the entire amounts

are settled to the employees concerned.