Case Law Details
Sovakar Guru Vs State of Odisha and Ors. (Orissa High Court)
The grievance of the Petitioner, insofar as payment of arrears is concerned, has already been redressed but the interest component of the amount which has been held up for the last twenty-one years, is required to be paid.
There is no dispute about the delayed payment as it was withheld for insufficient reasons. There is no material justification to take such time for fixing arrears of the petitioner. On this undisputed position, the court is not inclined to accept the submissions of the Opposite Party regarding non-payment of interest without any specific provisions in the service conditions. The late decision taken by the opposite party is attributable to administrative latches across different levels and the same cannot be the reason to withheld the payment to the employees who admittedly worked at the relevant time. The fact remains that there was delay in making payment of arrears of salary and other benefits with or without intention, is immaterial. In view of the admitted position on record that the payment was not made on due dates according to service conditions, there is no disputed question of facts involved.
Moreover, the employees cannot be allowed to suffer because of inaction on the part of the employer for no fault of the employees. The employee is definitely entitled to get the payment as per the service conditions on due dates and/or in a given case within reasonable time. The employees, had the payment received within time and/or on due dates, could have utilised the same for various purposes.
In this case there is a delay of about 21 years in settling the salary arrears payable to the petitioner. It is contended by the petitioner that even after multiple representations to the opposite party, his claim was not entertained, owing to the callous attitude of the opposite party. Therefore, this Court is of the view that the delay on the part of the opposite party in settling the arrears of salary payable to the petitioner for about 21 years purportedly due to administrative latches cannot be accepted.
Please become a Premium member. If you are already a Premium member, login here to access the full content.
