IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.18415 of 2008 Anup Lal Poddar , Son of Late Parmeshwar Poddar, Resident of Motilal Lane, Sikandarpur, P.O. – Mirzanhat, P.S. – Mojahidpur, District – Bhagalpur. -------- Petitioner Versus 1. The Bihar State Electricity Board through its Chairman, Vidyut Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna 1. 2. The Secretary, Bihar State Electricity Board, Vidyut Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna 1. 3. The Financial Controller, Bihar State Electricity Board, Vidyut Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna 1. 4. General Manager cum Chief Engineer, Bhagalpur Electricity Board Area, Bhagalpur. 5. The Executive Engineer (Urban) Electric Supply Division, Bhagalpur. 6. Director, Bihar Electricity Board, Vidyut Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna 1. ---------- Respondents ---------------------------------- 2 16.12.2011 Heard Sri Vivekanand Vivek, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Vijay Kumar Verma, learned counsel appearing on behalf of all the Respondents/Bihar State Electricity Board. The petitioner, who retired on 31.12.2005 from the office of Electrical Executive Engineer, Urban Electric Supply Division, Bhagalpur, had approached this court by filing the present writ petition with a prayer to direct the Respondents to pay sanctioned amount of gratuity along with admissible interest. The petitioner had further claimed for interest on delayed payment of G.P.F. The petitioner had claimed interest from 01.01.2006 to 03.06.2006 i.e. from the date of retirement till the date of payment of the G.P.F. amount. Though writ petition was filed in the year 2008, no counter affidavit has been filed, till date. However, on instruction, Sri Vijay Kumar Verma, learned counsel for Respondent/ Bihar 2 State Electricity Board submits that gratuity amount i.e. Rs. 2,81,061/- has been paid to the petitioner vide cheque dated 25.04.2009. The statement made by learned counsel for the Board makes it clear that on amount of gratuity no interest has been paid. Annexure – ‘3’ is the order of sanction in respect of gratuity which indicates that Rs. 2,81,061/- was sanctioned under the head of gratuity. As per statement made by learned counsel for the Board same amount has been paid vide cheque dated 25.04.2009. Accordingly, the petitioner is entitled to get interest at the rate of 05% from the date of issuance of sanction order till the date of issuance of cheque i.e. in between 19.04.2006 and 25.04.2009. The amount of interest after calculation must be paid to the petitioner within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. So far claim of interest on G.P.F. amount is concerned, perusal of Annexure – ‘2’ makes it clear that G.P.F. amount was inclusive of interest. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that interest was paid only till the date of retirement whereas Annexure-‘2’ does not corroborate the submission made by learned counsel for the petitioner, and as such, no order is required to be passed regarding the claim of interest on G.P.F. With above observation and direction the writ petition stands partly allowed. Praful ( Rakesh Kumar, J.)