IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.20201 of 2005 (O&M) Date of decision: 10th November, 2010 Mohan Lal … Petitioner Versus Secretary to Govt. of Punjab, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department and others … Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. Baldev Raj Mahajan, Advocate for the petitioner. Ms. Sudeepti Sharma, Dy. Advocate General, Punjab for the respondents. KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (ORAL) Civil Misc. No.15255 of 2010 Application is allowed and documents (Annexures P-3 to P-5) are taken on record. Civil Writ Petition No.20201 of 2005 Present writ petition has been filed with a prayer that the respondents be directed to release gratuity to the petitioner after his retirement. Briefly stated, the petitioner joined as a Clerk in Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, Punjab at Amritsar in the month of May 1970. He was promoted as Auditor in the year 1975 and as Assistant Food Supply Officer in the month of August 2002. The petitioner, on attaining the age of superannuation, retired on 30th April, 2004. It is Civil Writ Petition No.20201 of 2005 (O&M) stated that the petitioner rendered 34 years of service in the respondent- Department. It is further stated that an amount of Rs.2,82,975/- was due to the petitioner on account of gratuity. In the present petition, an application bearing Civil Misc. No.15255 of 2010 has been filed, in which it has been averred that due to the acts of omission and commission on the part of the petitioner, the department had suffered certain losses and the amount of gratuity was not released, as certain proceedings were initiated against the petitioner to recover some amount. Counsel for the petitioner has stated that during the pendency of the present writ petition, various recovery notices have been dropped and as on today, only recovery of Rs.8,481/- has been ordered in one case and in another case pertaining to the year 2002-03 recovery of an amount of Rs.3,75,011.35 has been ordered. Counsel for the petitioner has further stated that against both the above said recovery orders, appeals filed by the petitioner are pending before the appellate authority, i.e. respondent No.1. It is stated that qua the recovery order dated 8th August, 2005 for an amount of Rs.8481/-, the appeal was filed on 24th August, 2005. A period of five years has elapsed and still the appeal has not been decided. Similarly, qua the recovery of Rs.3,75,011.35, the order was passed on 7th September, 2007 and appeal was filed on 16th November, 2007. A period of three years is going to elapse, still the appeal has not been decided. Counsel for the petitioner has submitted that at this moment, he will confine his prayer and will pray to this Court that the appellate authority be directed to decide both the above said appeals in a specified timeframe. Counsel for the State has submitted that every endeavour shall be made to decide both the appeals preferred by the petitioner at the earliest. 2 Civil Writ Petition No.20201 of 2005 (O&M) After hearing counsel for the parties, present writ petition is hereby disposed of with a direction to respondent No.1 to decide both the appeals preferred by the petitioner within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. [KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA] JUDGE November 10, 2010 rps 3