IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARANCHAL AT NAINITAL Chapter VIII, Rule 32(2) (b) Description of case W. P. 9981 of 1994 Writ Petition No. 1117 of 2001 (S/B) Date of decision: 27th July, 2004 For the approval of: Hon’ble Chief Justice V.S. Sirpurkar. Hon’ble Mr. Justice P.C. Verma. - Whether the order/judgment should be sent to the reporters for reporting ? (----) - Whether the reporters be allowed to see the judgment? (Yes) A 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARANCHAL, NAINITAL W. P. 9981 of 1994 Writ Petition No. 1117(S/B) of 2001 K.D. Pokhriyal S/o Late Sri Mohanand, R/o 74/6 Virbhadra Marg, Street No. 6, Rishikesh, District Dehradun ……………. Petitioner Vs. 1. Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Post Office Virbhadra, Rishikesh, District Dehradun through its Chairman and Managing Director. 2. General Manager, Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. P.O. Virbhadra, Rishikesh, Dehradun …………… Respondents. …… Sri S.N. Babulkar, Senior Advocate, learned counsel for the petitioner. Sri V.K. Bist, Senior Advocate assisted by Mrs. Anjali, Advocate, learned counsel for the respondents. Coram: Hon’ble V.S. Sirpurkar, C.J. Hon’ble P.C. Verma, J. Dated: July 27, 2004 [Per Hon’ble the Chief Justice] This is a writ petition by an unfortunate person, who has been deprived of his rightful gratuity. He has retired in the year 1992 and as per calculations, he was to collect the gratuity for a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lac only) approximately, which was not paid to him. It is an admitted position that at the time when the petitioner retired, there was no departmental action or disciplinary action pending against him and as such he was fully entitled for gratuity. That has not been done. He was paid part of gratuity, according to the petitioner, in the year 1996, while according to the respondents by 28.6.1993. Learned counsel for the respondents asserts that a cheque dated 28.6.1993 was given. That was also a short payment of about Rs. 50,000/-. The remaining amount of Rs.50,000/- was paid to him in the year 2002 and more particularly on 15th of January. For the payment of gratuity, the petitioner was driven to file a writ petition before the Allahabad High Court and on transfer, the matter is before us. 2 At the out set, learned senior counsel says that there was absolutely no reason for the respondents to deprive the petitioner of the rightful gratuity and that payments have been made only by 2002. Accordingly to the learned counsel, a question of interest still remains. He, therefore, now prays for the interest on the balance amount. The Supreme Court has recently taken a view that where an employee, who is entitled to retrial benefits, is deprived of his benefits, he can claim interest. Now there will be no question of denying interest on this, because admittedly the petitioner was not facing any inquiry nor was there any departmental or nay disciplinary proceeding pending against him. We, therefore, deem it fit to grant interest on the defaulted amount of gratuity. Learned counsel for the respondents, however, says that the respondents are in dire financial state and the matter is pending before the B.I.F.R. We are not concerned with that. Mere pendency of the matter before B.I.F.R. would not deprive the petitioner of his rightful wages and in this case the gratuity. Learned senior counsel on behalf of the petitioner insisted on the interest @ 18% considering that the respondents took full ten years for making payment of total amount of gratuity. We do not agree with the contention to that effect. 18% interest would be on the higher side. We order that the calculation of interest would be @ 12% between the date when he retired and the date when he actually received the first amount of Rs. 50,000/- i.e. 28.06.1993. From 28.06.1993, however, the rate of interest on the remaining amount of Rs. 50,000/- would be 10% simple interest. With this, we allow the petition to the extent we have indicated in our order. It is hoped that the payment is made in reasonable time. Rule made absolute. No costs. (V.S. Sirpurkar, C.J.) 27.7.2004 (P.C. Verma, J.)y 27.7.2004 A