IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION NO : 17601 of 2008 Between: 1 The Divisional Forest officer, Kothagudem Khammam District 2 The Chief Conservator of Forests,Khammam circle Khammam 3 The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests,Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad 4 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep.by its Prl. Secretary,Environment, Forest , Science and Technology Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad ..... PETITIONER(S) AND Md.Afzal Khan, Forest Range Officer (Retired) H.No.8-9- 38/1,Inside Fort, Khammam .....RESPONDENT Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of Certiorari calling for the records relating to and connected with the orders dated 29.2.2008 in OA.No.7593 of 2005 on the ﬁle of the AP Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad and to quash or set aside the same by holding as erroneous and contrary to law and erroneous and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:GP FOR SERVICES I Counsel for the Respondent No.: . The Court made the following : O R D E R: This writ petition is ﬁled by the Government seeking to issue a writ of certiorari calling for the records relating to and connected with the orders dated 29.2.2008 in O.A.No.7593 of 2005 on the ﬁle of the A.P.Administrative Tribunal and to quash or set aside the same. The O.A. was ﬁled seeking grant of interest on delayed payment of retiral beneﬁts. The tribunal allowed the O.A. granting interest @ 8% on delayed payment of retiral beneﬁts amounting to Rs.5,26,836/- from 1st August, 2003 till 12.4.2005 payable to the respondent, who retired as Forest Range Officer. The applicant retired from service on 31.7.2002. According to the respondents, the applicant submitted pension papers to the 4th respondent on 9.4.2003. No Due Certiﬁcate was granted to the Forest Range Oﬃcer on 12.11.2003 indicating therein that an amount of Rs.27,850/- has to be recovered from the retrial beneﬁts of the respondent. Then respondent ﬁled appeal and revision and ultimately amounts were paid to the respondent on 12.4.2005. The tribunal was of the view that since no disciplinary proceedings are pending against the respondent, at best the authority should have deducted Rs.27,850/- and released the balance of the retrial benefits and, therefore, there was delay in payment of retiral beneﬁts to the respondents, and, as such, the respondent is entitled for interest on delayed payments as per the Revised Pension Rules, 1980, observing that four months time can be taken as a reasonable period for grant of pension. We have carefully gone through the order of the Tribunal and see no ground to interfere with the same granting interest on delayed payment of retiral beneﬁts to the respondents. As rightly found by the Tribunal, the pensionary beneﬁts of the respondent should have been released after deducting the amount of Rs.27,850/-, which amount is said to have been recoverable from the retiral beneﬁts of the respondent. Admittedly, no disciplinary proceedings are pending against the respondent. Merely because the amount of Rs.27,850/- is recoverable from the respondent, the authorities are not justiﬁed in detaining the entire retiral beneﬁts, as the delayed payments would certainly aﬀect the family of a retired employee. The respondent is, therefore, entitled for interest on delayed payment. We see no error in the order of the Tribunal. Hence, the writ petition is dismissed. ___________________ GHULAM MOHAMMED,J _______________ C.V.RAMULU,J 13th August, 2008. PNV THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU W.P.No.17601 of 2006 13th August, 2008