JAYANTA KUMAR BAIDYA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India directed against the order dated July 29 2019 passed by the learned Central Administrative Tribunal, Kolkata in O.A. No.350/01237/ 2016, dismissing the same. It has been brought before us sitting in Division in terms of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in L. Chandrakumar-v-Union of India, 1997 AIR(SC) 1125.

(2.) The said original application was heard on affidavits. These are before us as part of the Annexures to the writ petition. From the said original application and the affidavits, it appears that the writ petition was instituted for the following main reliefs: -

(3.) It appears from the original application that the applicant retired from service under the respondents as "3A'C" category of employee on September 15, 2015. Therefore, he was a group "C" category employee. The respondents were purporting to recover money from their retired Group "C" employee on the ground that he had taken leave travel concessions for visits of his father, mother, and brothers to Goa for the Block Year 1983-85 and again for his father and mother for the Block Year 1994-97, without producing any dependency certificate of the said persons on his income, and additional evidence, but only on the basis of his declaration that they were "Family" for the purposes of Central Civil Services (LTC) Rules. It is an admitted position that the applicant in the original application had been paid his gratuity, commutation of pension and service pension, but was not being paid 300 days of Balance Leave Encashment due to the said dispute relating to leave travel concession raised by the audit department. Ultimately an order dated August 1, 2016 was passed by the respondents granting cash equivalent of leave salary for 300 days earned leave and 298 days of Half Pay Leave after adjustment of the leave travel concession availed by the petitioner for his parents and sisters as aforesaid. This is why the petitioner approached the learned tribunal for the above reliefs.