A.D. ANTONY Vs. THE COMPTROLLER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has approached this Court, having lost his substantial source of income, the salary, on retirement, when the respondent University, his employer, kept him on an interminable wait for what is otherwise his legitimate right, the retirement benefits. For one reason or another, the delays, more often than not, occur in the matters of settling the terminal benefits of the superannuated staff, the respondent University being no exception. This case is yet another such example as to illustrate the plight of the retired employees.

(2.) BRIEFLY stated, as the records reveal, the petitioner retired from service on attaining the age of superannuation in 2006, from Kerala Agricultural University, his employer. Despite the lapse of more than seven years from the date of his retirement, so far, his terminal benefits have not been settled. All his efforts before the authorities bearing no fruit, the petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present writ petition.

(3.) THE learned counsel for the petitioner has brought to my notice a judgment of this Court in W.P.(C) No. 27285/2013 and batch, disposed of on 20.02.2014, per a learned Single Judge, under identical circumstances. This Court, on that occasion, has observed that it is for the University to find out its own resources for payment of terminal benefits due to the retired employees, and that the University cannot deny payment of retiral benefits to its employees on the pretext of financial stringency. I am in respectful agreement with the said opinion.