IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.10506 of 2005 HARIDWAR MISHRA Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR & ORS ----------- For the Petitioner : Mrs. Anju Jha,Advocate For the State : Mr. J.C. to G.A.-V ------------ 05/ 03-09-2008 In the present case it appears that the deceased employee, namely, father of the petitioner had retired from service on 30.6.1987. Thereafter, he died on 20th May, 1990. Soon thereafter mother of the petitioner also died in June, 1990. After death of his parents, petitioner filed an application for release of the dues of his father on 10th August, 1990 along with the death certificate and an affidavit sworn by the deceased employee authorizing him to receive all payments due to him. However, inspite of filing of that application along with the death certificate and affidavit, no action was taken by the respondents in the matter. Petitioner approached the respondents from time to time but no heed was taken by the respondents to his requests. Being compelled due to inaction of the respondents, petitioner filed this writ application. 2 In the counter affidavit, respondents took a stand that since the petitioner had not filed any succession certificate, the dues amount was not released in his favour. However, when the case was taken up on the last date i.e. 30.7.2008, it was found that the letter and a press communiqué, which were annexed with the counter affidavit to show that the petitioner was requested to submit succession certificate were in fact issued by the respondents only after filing of the writ application, and therefore, in view of the glaring inaction on the part of the respondents in the matter for about 15 years, learned counsel for the State prayed for time to enable the respondents to calculate and pay the dues in respect of the deceased employee. The case was accordingly adjourned for four weeks. Today, when the case was taken up a supplementary counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the respondent no.4. In the supplementary counter affidavit, it is stated that on account of grant of senior selection grade to the deceased employee on 22.9.1978, an amount of Rs.7808/- by way of Bank Draft 3 No.781271 dated 25.8.2008 is ready for payment. It has also been stated in the counter affidavit that GPF amount in respect of the deceased employee has been authorized vide Bill No.33E/08-09 and it has been sent to the Secretariat Treasury, Sinchai Bhawan, Patna for deposit in the account with interest calculated till 31st of August, 2008. Similarly, it is also stated that family pension has been sanctioned in the matter vide letter nos.5882 and 5879 dated 18-7-2007 and the Treasury Officer has been informed to pay the same to the petitioner vide office letter no.604 dated 19.8.2008. In the supplementary counter affidavit there is no explanation as to why the authorities had sat over the matters for 15 years and have only proceeded to calculate the dues of the deceased employee after filing of this writ application and after notice to the respondents to file counter affidavit in the matter. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that since calculation chart has not been furnished along with the supplementary counter affidavit, petitioner is not in a position to ascertain as to whether calculation 4 has been correctly made or not. It is needless to say that if the petitioner approaches the Superintending Engineer, Irrigation Monitoring Circle, Patna, who has sworn the supplementary counter affidavit, he shall supply the calculation chart to the petitioner under each and every item. However, since there is admittedly a delay of about 15 years in processing the claim of the petitioner without any explanation, this Court considers it proper to award penal interest on the amount paid to the petitioner on the delayed payments released in his favour on different dates. In that view of the matter, apart from the statutory interest which has already been paid, petitioner shall be entitled to 12 percent simple interest payable by the functionaries of the State Government within three months from the date of submission of his application along with death certificate and affidavit before the respondents till the date of payment. In this context, this Court is fortified by decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Vijay L. Mehrotra Vrs. 5 State of U.P. and others, reported in (2001)9 Supreme Court Cases 687, where the Hon’ble Supreme Court has also allowed interest on account of delayed payments by the respondents. Although interest has been awarded in favour of the petitioner on all amounts paid to him, it is made clear that since the delay has been caused by the functionaries of the State Government, it will not be fit and proper to get the amount paid from the State exchequer. Accordingly, this Court directs the Commissioner, Department of Irrigation, Old Secretariat (respondent no.1) to hold an enquiry and fix up the responsibility upon officer(s)/employee(s) of the department who were responsible for not processing the claim of the petitioner for so many years, which occasioned the delay in payment. The responsibility in this regard shall be fixed on the concerned officer(s)/employee(s) within three months and the amount of interest shall be calculated and realized from the salary of the concerned officer(s)/employee(s) found responsible for such delayed payment after due notice to them within the said period in 6 proportion to their responsibility for not acting in the matter and the amount of interest shall be paid to the petitioner within the said period. With the aforesaid observations and directions, this writ application is disposed of. Let the matter be listed under the heading “T0 BE MENTIONED” after three months to enable the learned counsel for the State to inform this Court about the compliance of the above order by the Commissioner (respondent no.1). Let a copy of this order be handed over to Government Advocate No.V. A.H./ ( J. N. Singh , J. )