BEGRAJ SHARMA Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present Regular Second Appeal has been filed by the plaintiff aggrieved against the judgment of the lower appellate court declining his claim for interest on pension and other retiral benefits which were allegedly paid after delay.

(2.) A reading of the order of the lower appellate court would show that the plaintiff had retired from service on 30.4.1998. Before his retirement, by an order dated 6.12.1997 one increment of the plaintiff was stopped with cumulative effect. The plaintiff had filed an appeal against the said order. The said appeal came to be decided in favour of the plaintiff on 20.5.1999. It is the stand of the respondent-State that while the plaintiff should have submitted two sets of pension papers, he however submitted only one set on 16.12.1997. In spite of many reminders he did not submit the second set of pension papers. Under these circumstances the State Government had no option but to forward the pension papers as they were, to the office of Accountant General, Haryana on 1.1.1999. The pension and gratuity were released to the plaintiff in the month of January 1999 itself. Today a chart has been produced before me which shows that leave encashment due to him had been earlier granted to him in June 1998 and his G.P.F. amount had been paid to him in September 1998. In these circumstances the lower appellate court has concluded that there was no inordinate delay on the part of the respondents in releasing the terminal benefits so as to make the State liable for payment of interest on the aforesaid payments.

(3.) Apart from this it also deserves to be noticed that the plaintiff had earlier filed a writ petition in this High Court being C.W.P. No. 12971 of 1998. This writ petition was disposed of by a Division Bench of this Court on 19.8.1998 with a direction to decide the claim of the plaintiff for his retiral benefits as expeditiously as possible. Thereafter the plaintiff again approached this Court by filing a contempt petition being C.O.C.P. No. 1657 of 1998. This petition came up for hearing on 18.3.1999 on which date the following order was passed :-