IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.16476 of 2008 Ram Naresh Prasad, S/o Late Dewashar Singh, R/O Village Pawa P/S Deep Nagar in the district of Nalanda. --------- Petitioner Versus 1. Bihar State Electricity Board through its Chairman, Vidyut Bhawan Bailey Road Patna. 2. The Secretary, Bihar State Electricity Board, Vidyut Bhawan Bailey Road, Patna. 3. The Financial Controller, Bihar State Electricity Board, Bailey Road, Patna. 4. The Deputy Director of Accounts (Sectt.) Bihar State Electricity Board, Bailey Road, Patna. 5. The Accounts Officer, Electric Supply Area Jamui. 6. The Superintending Engineer Electric Supply Division Jamui. ---------- Respondent ---------------------------------- 3 08.12.2011 Heard Sri Sanjeev Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel appearing on behalf of all the Respondents/Bihar State Electricity Board. The present writ petition was filed with a limited prayer to direct the Respondents to pay the amount of gratuity along with admissible interest. The petitioner had claimed that after retirement the competent authority had issued sanction order in respect of DCR gratuity for an amount of Rs. 2,93,568/- and from that amount Rs. 18,000/- was required to be deducted since the petitioner had taken medical advance. As per the sanction order total amount after deduction was Rs. 2,75,568/- under the head of DCR gratuity. After filing of the writ petition the Respondent /Board has filed a counter affidavit and it has been indicated that the sanctioned amount of gratuity i.e. Rs. 2 2,75,568/- has been paid to the petitioner vide cheque no. 763379 dated 06.10.2008. Accordingly, it has been prayed by learned counsel for the Respondent that since the grievance of the petitioner has already been redressed the writ petition has become infructuous. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that order for sanction in respect of gratuity was issued on 17.11.2006 vide Annexure – ‘1’ and payment has been made vide cheque dated 06.10.2008. The cheque amount is the same which has been mentioned in the sanction order issued in the year 2006. Accordingly, it has been prayed to direct the Respondents to pay interest on delayed payment of gratuity. The court is of the opinion that since the dues of the petitioner in respect of gratuity was already admitted by way of issuance of sanction order, there was no reason to withhold the payment and in case of delay in payment the Respondent/Board was required to calculate interest on the said amount which was to be calculated from the date of issuance of sanction order till the date of payment. Accordingly, the Respondent particularly Respondent No. 2 / Secretary, Bihar State Electricity Board and Respondent No. 3 / Financial Controller, Bihar State Electricity Board, are directed to calculate interest at the rate of 05% per annum from 17.11.2006 i.e. the date of 3 issuance of sanction order till the date of issuance of cheque i.e. 06.10.2008 and pay the interest amount to the petitioner within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. With above observation and direction the writ petition stands disposed of. Praful ( Rakesh Kumar, J.)