Megraj Rai v. The State Of West Bengal And ORS
Calcutta High Court In The Circuit Bench at Jalpaiguri Appellate Jurisdiction ------ 04 13.9.2024 WPA 1951 OF 2024 PA Ct. no.2 ------------ Megraj Rai Vs.
The State of West Bengal & Ors.
Mr. Milindo Paul Mr. Nabankur Paul Ms. Sutapa Sen Paul Ms. Bedashruti Bose Mr. Subham Das Mr. Bodhisatya Ghosh.
....For the Petitioner Mr. Hirak Barman Mr. Kumar Shantanu ....For the State Affidavit-of-service, filed in Court today, is taken on record.
Mr. Nabankur Paul, learned counsel appears for the petitioner.
Mr. Hirak Barman, learned State counsel led by Mr. Kumar Shantanu, learned counsel appears for the respondents.
A certificate dated 10.10.2017 was issued by the respondent no.5 with the following direction : "AND, now therefore, a certificate under Section 8 of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, is hereby issued to the Certificate Officer, Darjeeling for realization of a sum of Rs.6,94,067.00 (Rs. Six Lakhs Ninety Four Thousand Sixty Seven only as gratuity plus interest as per notice in Form „R‟ together with compound interest @ 15% per annum as
per Government Notification, S.O. 1072(E) dated 01.12.1987 from the expiry of the date mentioned in Form „R‟ till the date it is realized as per Section 8 of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 from the employer i.e. O.P."
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that, the first installment for a sum of Rs.5,08,385/- was paid to the petitioner on 03.05.2018 and the second installment for a sum of Rs.1,98,305/- was paid to the petitioner on 16.10.2020.
The order of the controlling authority at page 19 to the writ petition shows that, a total Gratuity was payable for a sum of Rs.6,94,067/- . The petitioner submits that, this amount has already been paid but without interest as per the said certificate at page 21 to the writ petition.
In view of the above, the respondent nos. 6 and 7 are directed to pay the interest in terms of the said certificate at page 21 to the writ petition till the date of actual payment made to the petitioner, as recorded above, on reducing principal basis.
The entire exercise, as directed herein, shall be positively carried out by the respondent nos. 6 and 7 within four weeks from the date of communication of this order.
In the event the interest, as directed herein, is not paid by the authority, the respondent no.4 shall initiate appropriate recovery proceeding on account of such interest payable to the petitioner immediately within a period of one week after expiry of the said four weeks ,directed above, and shall proceed with the recovery proceeding strictly in accordance with law and shall conclude the same positively within a period of four weeks from the date of initiation of the recovery proceeding. Since affidavit is not called for, the allegations made in the writ petition are deemed not to have been admitted by the respondents.
With the above observations and directions this writ petition, WPA 1951 of 2024 stands disposed of, without any order as to costs.
Photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be furnished expeditiously.
(Aniruddha Roy, J.)