Nilima Maity (Mandal) v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.

sandip Ct. 18 08.01.2024 W.P.A. 13342 of 2023 Nilima Maiti (Mandal) Vs.

The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Sabyasachi Mondal, Ms. Puja Naskar, Ms. Payel Khanra ... For the petitioner. Mr. Arindam Chattopadhyay, Ms. Lipika Chatterjee ... For the State. The petitioner is a retired Assistant Teacher of Barbajitpur Jatindra High School, District - Purba Medinipur.

The pay scale of the petitioner in terms of ROPA Rules1990, ROPA Rules 1998 and ROPA Rules 2009 was not revised in due time as a result an amount of Rs. 4,45,122.05/- was accrued in her favour.

The said amount was ultimately paid to the petitioner on November 23, 2022.

The petitioner is praying interest on the aforementioned amount for the delayed payment for the period from March 12, 2019 till November 23, 2022 i.e. the date of payment of the said amount. Mr. Chattopadhyay, learned counsel for the State files a report of the District Inspector of Schools (SE), Purba Medinipur, the respondent no. 3 herein, in the said report, the said delay has been sought to be

justified on the ground of intervention of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Learned counsel for the petitioner disputes the said justification. He submits that the petitioner had approached this Court earlier for release of his arrear claim but the same was not paid even after the direction of the Co-ordinate Bench of this Court for which the petitioner had to take out an application for contempt and only thereafter the said arrear amount was paid to her.

The petitioner under the aforementioned circumstances is entitled to interest on the arrear salary @ 3% per annum for the period from March 12, 2019 to November 23, 2022.

The respondent no. 3 is directed to take forward steps for release of the interest amount as expeditiously as possible.

W.P.A. 13342 of 2023 is disposed of with the above terms without any order as to costs.

Parties to act on the server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court. Urgent Photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties subject to compliance with all requisite formalities.

(Biswajit Basu, J.)