Suresh Ananda Pawar v. Municipal Corporation Of Greater Mumbai And ANR.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION Basavraj G. Patil 1.WRIT PETITION NO.291/2021 Date: 2021.03.12 11:36:40 +0530 Suresh Ananda Pawar 2.WRIT PETITION NO.293/2021 Ashok Raghunath Panchal 3.WRIT PETITION NO.294/2021 Vijay Baban Badhe 4.WRIT PETITION NO.303/2021 Subodh Digambar Revankar 1/11
5.WRIT PETITION NO.304/2021 Sadanand Goyal Shetye 6.WRIT PETITION NO.305/2021 Sumant Sirmokadam 7.WRIT PETITION NO.331/2021 Shirish Ketkar 8.WRIT PETITION NO.332/2021 Nitin Raoji Joshi ..... Petitioners 9.WRIT PETITION NO.333/2021 Sharad Amrut Sawant 2/11
10.WRIT PETITION NO.338/2021 Satish Vamanrao Mahajan 11.WRIT PETITION NO.339/2021 Naresh Yeshwant Vichare 12.WRIT PETITION NO.342/2021 Suryakant Vishnu Panchal 13.WRIT PETITION NO.343/2021 Uday Tayshete 14.WRIT PETITION NO.345/2021 Geeta Vinod Sawant 3/11
15.WRIT PETITION NO.346/2021 Eknath Jairam Gawade 16.WRIT PETITION NO.349/2021 Manohar Narsinha Samant 17.WRIT PETITION NO.352/2021 Ravindranath Keshav Magare 18.WRIT PETITION NO.354/2021 Milind Deorukhkar 19.WRIT PETITION NO.355/2021 Anil Vinayak Kamble 4/11
20.WRIT PETITION NO.356/2021 Prashant Laxman Mhatre 21.WRIT PETITION NO.358/2021 Nitin Virkar 22.WRIT PETITION NO.359/2021 Chandrashekhar Lahu Desai 23.WRIT PETITION NO.360/2021 Dayanand Surve 5/11
24.WRIT PETITION NO.364/2021 Vijay Anna Sagare 25.WRIT PETITION NO.365/2021 Sharad Kulkarni 26.WRIT PETITION NO.388/2021 Shyam Narayan Kulkarni 27.WRIT PETITION NO.392/2021 Kishore Ambadas Karode 28.WRIT PETITION NO.473/2021 Arvind Shankar Bhor 6/11
29.WRIT PETITION NO.479/2021 Dhanaji Tukaram Ardalkar 30.WRIT PETITION NO.487/2021 Chhagan Ramu Dadas 31.WRIT PETITION NO.515/2021 Abhay Janardan Shelar 32.WRIT PETITION NO.539/2021 Rajan Shankar Walvekar 7/11
Mr. Kiran S. Bapat a/w. Mr. Jayesh Desai I/b. M/s. Desai & Desai Associates for the Petitioners
CORAM:
K.K.TATED & RIYAZ I. CHAGLA, JJ.
DATED :
MARCH 10, 2021 P.C.
Rule.
Rule is made returnable forthwith by consent of both the parties.
Heard. By these Petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the Petitioners are seeking directions against the Respondents to release their retirement dues as per the final bill prepared and accepted by the Respondents with interest 18% p.a. The Petitioners also claim their dues as against the unpaid Leave Travel Concession. The learned counsel for the Petitioners submits that in all these matters, the Petitioners were working with the Respondent BEST Undertaking. He submits that all these Petitioners have retired from their services, long back. He submits that though the final bills are prepared and accepted by the concerned Department of the Respondents, they have failed and neglected to release the said amount in favour of the Petitioners. Hence, the Petitioners had made representations to the General Manager, BEST Undertaking on 29.10.2019 and to the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai on 04.09.2020 for payment of outstanding final bills of superannuated employees of the 8/11
BEST Undertaking.
He submits that neither the Respondents have paid the said amount nor decided their Application on merits. He submits that in any case, the final bills are already prepared by the concerned Department. Hence, they may be directed to release the same immediately. The learned counsel for the Petitioners submits that as per the Administration Order No.97 dated 20.01.1992 issued by the BEST Undertaking, the payment of final dues (salary, wages, provident fund, gratuity etc.) is required to be paid within 15 days. Paragraph 1 of the said administration order reads thus:
"It is observed that the final dues (Salary / Wages, Provident Fund, Gratuity, etc.) to the nominees / legal heirs in case of deceased employees or to the members of staff separated from the services of the Undertaking (Salary / Wages, Provident Fund, Gratuity, etc.) as the case may be, are not being paid within the prescribed time limit of 15 days." The learned counsel for the Petitioner submits that in spite of there being an administration order No.97 and though the final bills are already prepared, the concerned Department of the Respondents is not releasing the due amount to the Petitioners. Hence, the Petitioners have filed the present Writ Petitions seeking directions against the Respondent to release their retirement dues.
On the other hand, the learned counsel for the Respondent No.2 - BEST Undertaking submits that as on today, their liability is more than Rs.2903.97 Crores. He submits that the ex-employees' dues i.e. gratuity and final bill comes to Rs.635.17 Crores. Therefore, there is delay on 9/11
their part to make the payment.
It is to be noted that in the present proceedings the Petitioners are retired persons and they are entitled for their retirement dues. Not only that the final bills are already prepared by the concerned Department. Apart from that, as per the Administrative Order No.97 dated 20.01.1992 issued by Respondent No.2, the Respondents are supposed to clear the retirement dues within 15 days. Considering these facts and the Petitioner's representations for release of their dues as stated hereinabove, we are of the opinion that the Petitioners have made out a case for allowing the Writ Petitions. However, whether the Petitioners are entitled for Leave Travel Concession benefits or not, is to be decided by Respondents within 30 days from the date of this order.
Hence, the following order is passed:
a.
Respondent No.2 shall clear the Petitioner's retirement benefits as per the final bills prepared by their Department, as early as possible, but in any case, on or before 09.04.2021.
b.
If there is delay on the part of Respondent No.2 to clear their dues on or before 09.04.2021, Respondent No.2 will have to pay interest @ 9% p.a. from the due date.
10/11
c.
Respondent No.2 is directed to decide the Petitioner's entitlement of the Leave Travel Concession, if any, within 30 days from the date of this order and intimate the decision thereon to the Petitioner, in writing.
d.
Rule is made absolute in all the Writ Petitions accordingly.
e.
All the Writ Petitions stand disposed of accordingly.
f.
No order as to costs.
(RIYAZ I. CHAGLA, J.) (K.K.TATED, J.) 11/11