K KAMALAKSHI Vs. PALAKKAD MUNICIPALITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners are retired employees of the Municipal Common Service. Their grievance in this writ petition is that retirement benefits due to the petitioners have not been disbursed by the respondents . The 1st respondent would take the stand that they can pay the retirement benefits due to the petitioners only when funds are made available by the 2nd respondent for payment of the same. The 2nd respondent would take the stand that the retirement benefits can be paid only from the Central Pension Fund, which comprises of the pension contribution payable by the Municipalities in respect of each employee. According to 2nd respondent, the Municipalities including the 1st respondent Municipality, are in arrears in payment f contributions. According to 2nd respondent, in the Central Pension Fund, the amounts now available comes to only less than Rs. 2 lakhs. Therefore, unless the contributions are duly paid by the Municipalities, the 2nd respondent is unable to release any funds to the Municipalities, is the contention raised. Counsel for the Municipality submits that nearly Rs. 7 crores are due from the 2nd respondent, whereas the pension contribution payable by the Municipalities comes to only Rs. 3 crores, which can be adjusted against the amounts due.

(2.) I have considered the rival contentions in detail.