IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 1657 of 2009 Date of decision: 05.02.2009 Madan Lal Sethi s/o Sh. Dina Nath Sethi .....PETITIONER VERSUS Labour Commissioner, Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, Punjab, Chandigarh and others ..... RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH Present: Petitioner in person along with Mr. H.S.Baath, Advocate, *** AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. (ORAL) In the present writ petition, the challenge is to the order dated 08.12.2008 (Annexure P-2) passed by the Appellate Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. The petitioner in person has contended that the gratuity amount, which has been granted by the Controlling Authority, is not as per his claim. He further contends that the Appellate Authority has modified the order of the Controlling Authority, wherein the interest was granted from the date of application till the payment of interest amount, to the extent that the interest would be paid to the petitioner from the date of application dated 01.10.1996 till the date of actual payment of the gratuity CWP No. 1657 of 2009 -2- amount, i.e. 22.01.2005 instead of till the date of payment of interest amount. He contends that he has been wrongly deprived of the said benefit. I have gone through the impugned order dated 08.12.2008 (Anneuxre P-2) as well as the order passed by the Controlling Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, dated 14.03.2007 (Annexure P- 1). The contention of the petitioner that he was entitled to more gratuity than what has been awarded, cannot be at this stage looked into for the simple reason that he has accepted the order passed by the Controlling Authority (Annexure P-1) as he has not preferred any appeal against this order before the Appellate Authority in accordance with the Gratuity Act. Having accepted the said order, this grievance of the petitioner at this stage cannot be accepted in the present petition. Further what the Appellate Authority has done is only to restrict the interest payable to the petitioner from the date of application i.e. 01.10.1996 till the date of payment of gratuity amount i.e. 22.01.2005. It is an admitted position that the petitioner was paid gratuity of Rs. 63,886/- payable under the Payment of Gratuity Act on 22.01.2005, which amount, he has, as a matter of fact, accepted without any protest. It is a settled preposition of law that interest can only be paid on the principal amount and once the principal amount has been paid, no further interest on the same can be granted. The order passed by the Appellate Authority dated 08.12.2008 (Annexure P-2) is in accordance with law, which does not call for any interference by this Court. Dismissed. ( AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH ) JUDGE February 05, 2009 pj