Vir Bhan v. State Of Haryana And Others
!"
"
!
"
##### "# $"%
The jurisdiction of this Court has been invoked under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ in nature of mandamus directing the respondents to pay interest to the petitioner on the amount of retiral benefits, released after a long delay in a discriminatory and arbitrary manner.
2.
Brief Facts The petitioner is a retired from government service on 31.05.2020 after having joined as a Junior Engineer on 12.04.1984 and rendering more than 36 years of satisfactory service. An FIR No. 12 dated
02.08.2015 under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC was registered against the petitioner and others by the State Vigilance Bureau, Hisar, and charges in the said case were framed on 23.12.2021. The petitioner contends that two other similarly situated co-accused persons, namely Ram Kishan Sangwan, SDO (Retd.) and Rajesh Sharma, Junior Engineer, against whom charges were also framed, were granted promotions and all retiral benefits, whereas his own retiral benefit of gratuity was arbitrarily and discriminatorily withheld despite no departmental proceedings being pending against him.
The petitioner submitted that gratuity can be withheld only under Rule 12 on account of proven pecuniary loss caused due to negligence or misconduct, which is not applicable in his case, as nothing is recoverable from him and several coaccused persons were even deleted from the FIR. Various representations, including one dated 03.11.2020, were submitted by the petitioner seeking release of gratuity along with interest; however, the respondents neither responded nor took corrective action. Consequently, the petitioner approached this Court by way of CWP No. 10102 of 2023, which was disposed of on 10.05.2023 with a direction to decide the pending representation of the petitioner. The respondents, however, rejected the representation on 07.08.
2023 on the ground of pendency of judicial proceedings, despite the fact that the petitioner had already been acquitted on 27.07.2023, a fact within their knowledge. It was only thereafter, on further representation dated 12.09.2023, that respondent No. 3 requested release of gratuity, which was eventually released after an inordinate and unexplained delay.
&
therefore seeks interest on the delayed payment of an amount of Rs.18,72,717/- from the date of his retirement till its actual release. 3.
Contentions On behalf of the petitioner
$% &' () *(*(
% &+
,-.
%
% % %
/
% .
%
.
0
% %
$ -
%
%
%%$ . '* % 1
$%
12 3 '('(* *(*& 0
%
$
4 *5 (5 *(*&
7
%
$%
%
% -
8
$
$
"
1
9:
. *('+
%
% % &' () *(*(
. ;'
"1
9:
. *('+ %%
- $% %%
8
4
*5 (5 *(*&
%
'* (< *(*& 4 . 3 * (= '( *(*& 6
%
$
%
= "
$%
&' () *(*(
% &+ - %
%
% % %$ %
*5 (5 *(*& 8
4
3 8 0 (5 (; *(*& %
4
(= '( *(*&
0
%
$ 0 % "
1
9:
. *('+
7
*5 (5 *(*&
4 %
%
, % %
/
7
$
% %
- %
%
%
$
% -
% % %
-
! "#
% %
% $
% $ 4
% 4
%
$ 6 $ % $4 -
$% & '
(!((
)
*+ ,
-.!/.(
%
%
$
> 0 1 $' 2'
$% 3 4
5 (
4 %
%
$
9. Since a government employee on his retirement becomes immediately entitled to pension and other benefits in terms of the Pension Rules, a duty is simultaneously cast on the State to ensure the disbursement of pension and other benefits to the retirer in proper time. As to what is proper time will depend on the facts and circumstances of each case but normally it would not exceed two months front the date of retirement which time limit has been laid down by the Apex Court in M. Padmanabhan Nair's case (supra). If the State commits any default in the performance of its duty thereby denying to the retiree the benefit of the immediate use of his money, there is no gainsaying the fact that he gets a right to be compensated and, in our opinion, the only way to compensate him is to pay him interest for the period of delay on the amount as was due to him on the date of his retirement. Again, as to what should be the rate of interest, it should, in our view, be generally 12% unless the circumstances of a particular case warrant the payment of a higher rate which may extend to even 18%.
-
$
$
4
%
$
6
%
7
%
$
4
% $
% '()*+,-'(
/ % $ % $ % $ $
*5 (5 *(*&
%
$
$ % 1
%
+?
% %
$ 0
%
$ "%
! "
! "