For nearly two years after retirement, a Class IV worker watched her dues arrive not as a lump sum earned after years of service, but in scattered instalments—before finally finding relief in the Punjab and Haryana High Court—after being forced to approach it for the third time.
Coming down heavily on the authorities for their “administrative apathy”, the High Court has ordered payment of interest on the delayed dues along with costs. The court also granted authorities the liberty to recover the costs from the official responsible for forcing the retired ‘safai sewika’ into repeated litigation.
As the matter came up for hearing, Justice Harpreet Singh Brar took note of the contentions that the petitioner—working with Malout Municipal Council—retired on November 31, 2019. However, her retirement benefits were released in instalments and the last payment was made only on July 2, 2021, approximately 20 months after retirement.
The Bench also took note of the submissions that disciplinary proceedings were not pending against the petitioner on the eve of her retirement and she retired with clean record. Appearing before the Bench, following the issuance of notice by Justice Brar’s Bench, the State Counsel could not controvert the fact that disciplinary proceedings were not pending against the petitioner on her retirement eve.
“This Court is also cognisant of the fact that the petitioner was compelled to approach this Court for the third time and the petitioner is a retired Class IV employee who has been put to unnecessary inconvenience and hardship due to the administrative apathy by the respondents,” Justice Brar asserted after hearing rival contentions.
Relying upon the Full Bench ruling in a previous matter, Justice Brar asserted it had been authoritatively enunciated that pension and retirement benefits were not bounty but a vested right and any culpable delay in disbursement beyond a reasonable period of two months would invite liability to pay interest.
Justice Brar added the petitioner was, as such, entitled to interest on account of delay in releasing the retirement dues. Allowing the petition with costs of Rs 20,000, the court directed the competent authority to compute and release interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum on the delayed payment of retirement dues. The interest was directed to be calculated from two months after the petitioner’s retirement till actual payment.
