IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.5488 of 2007 Janardan Prasad Singh, Son of Late Aditya Narain Singh, Village- Kasimchak Milki, P.O. Ayain Khan, P.S. Dulhin Bazar, District-Patna ------------------- Petitioner Versus 1. THE STATE OF BIHAR through Commissioner and Secretary, Rural Development Department( Rural Engineering Organization), Visheshwaraiya Bhawan,Patna 2. Commissioner and Secretary, Rural Development Department ( Rural Engineering Organization), Visheshwaraiya Bhawan, Patna 3. Engineer-in-Chief, Rural Engineering Organization, Visheshwaraiya Bhawan,Patna 4. District Magistrate-cum- Collector, Madhepura 5. Block Development Officer, Bihariganj Block, Bihariganj, Madhepura 6. District Provident Fund Officer, Madhepura 7. Accountant General, Bihar, Patel Path, Patna --------------------------------- Respondents. ----------- 03 12-05-2011 Heard Sri Ajay Kumar Gautam, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Sanjay Kumar no.2, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Respondent no.7/ Accountant General, Bihar, Patna. Today again on call, none appeared on behalf of the State, Yesterday (i.e. on 11.5.2011) also, on call none had appeared on behalf of the State. It has been submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that yesterday he had sent message to learned counsel for the State, even then learned counsel for the State has not bothered to appear in the case. The present writ petition was filed on 26.4.2007 and till date no counter affidavit has been filed. In view of the facts and circumstances, the Court is of the opinion that the case relating to retiral dues cannot be kept pending for an indefinite period. The petitioner, who retired with effect from 30.6.2003 as Junior Engineer from Madhepura under the Rural Engineering Organization, has prayed for directing the Respondents to make payment 2 of all his retiral dues. It was submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that he is only getting provisional pension till date. Except the provisional pension, all other retiral dues are still pending. Despite the fact that the petitioner even demanded justice before the authority concerned, all efforts of the petitioner went in vein. Learned counsel for the petitioner, while referring to the averment made in paragraph-12 of the writ petition, submits that neither any departmental proceeding nor any criminal case / judicial enquiry was ever initiated against the petitioner either prior to his retirement or after his retirement. In view of specific averments made in the writ petition regarding non-pendency of any case, the Court is of the opinion that there was no reason for the Respondent authority to withhold retiral dues of the petitioner for such a long time. Accordingly, the writ petition stands allowed directing the Respondents, particularly Respondent nos.2 i.e. the Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Rural Development Department (Rural Engineering Organization), Patna and Respondent no.5 i.e. the Block Development Officer, Bihariganj, Madhepura to take all steps to clear all the retiral dues of the petitioner within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. After issuance of sanction order from the State authority, Respondent no.7 i.e. Accountant General, Bihar, Patna is required to issue authorization within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of sanction. Respondent no.6 i.e. the Provident Fund Officer is directed to make payment of Provident fund amount to the petitioner along with admissible statutory interest within a period of one month from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this 3 order. It is made clear that the petitioner shall be entitled to get interest at the rate applicable to saving account on the aforesaid retiral dues, which is to be calculated till the date of payment. Respondent no.2 shall be at liberty to recover the amount of interest to be paid to the petitioner on the ground of delay from the officer/employee responsible for such delay. With above observation and direction, the writ petition stands allowed. NKS/- ( Rakesh Kumar, J. )