Case Law Details
Upendra Kumar Verma Son of late Dwarika Prasad Vs State of Bihar (Patna High Court)
Patna High Court held that petitioner is duly entitled for at least 5% Simple interest on delayed payment of pension and gratuity.
Facts- Petitioner retired from the post of Lecturer (Statistics) on 24.02.2014. He had approached this Court earlier in CWJC No. 16063 of 2014 for payment of his post retiral dues.
During pendency of the earlier writ application, some payments were made and ultimately, the matter was referred to the Lok Adalat and the case was disposed of with a direction to the petitioner to appear before the authorized officer/authority of the Department concerned for payment of statutory interest on account of delayed payment of retiral dues. The petitioner appeared before the concerned authority and a reasoned order has been passed denying the interest to the petitioner upon pension and gratuity on the ground that the petitioner was himself responsible for the delay.
Conclusion- It is an admitted position that the sanction letter was issued by the respondents/State on 26.07.2016. The sanction letter was issued without any supporting documents i.e. service book and service history of the petitioner and upon demand being made by the Accountant General, the relevant documents/service book and service history was furnished by the State on 26.05.2017 and, thereafter, within one month the authority slip was issued by the Accountant General. Even the submission of learned counsel for the State is accepted, there is apparent delay in payment of interest on the part of the respondents/State between 26.7.2016 and 26.5.2017.
Please become a Premium member. If you are already a Premium member, login here to access the full content.
Author Bio
