Civil Writ Petition No. 614 of 1990 -1- IN THE PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No. 614 of 1990 (O&M) Date of Decision : 25.3.2011 Municipal Committee, Kaithal through its Executive Officer .......... Petitioner Versus Shri Lal Chand Sharma & another ...... Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE Mr. JUSTICE K.KANNAN Present : Mr. Raman B. Garg, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Jai Bhagwan Sharma, Advocate for respondent No.1. **** K.KANNAN, J. (ORAL) 1. The petitioner seeks for quashing of the orders Annexure P-2 & P-3 passed by the Joint Labour Commissioner in appeal, one filed by the petitioner and another by the legal representatives of the deceased employee. 2. The claim was for payment of gratuity for the period when the deceased employee was working under the petitioner and superannuated on 15.2.1974. It was declined to the petitioner, on the ground that the provisions of the Act itself was extended to the local bodies only on 23.1.1982 and since the employee had superannuated even before the said period, gratuity was not payable. Civil Writ Petition No. 614 of 1990 -2- 3. The further contention by the petitioner was that the request for payment of gratuity itself was made only in the year 1987 and therefore, the petitioner could not have been directed to pay any interest. 4. The issue whether the gratuity will be payable also to the employees, who had been superannuated prior to enforcement of the provisions extending the benefit to the employees of the Municipal Committee, has been decided by this Court in Mange Ram s/o Shiv Lal Ex-Sweeper vs. Chander s/o Nathu, CWP No. 7178 of 1989, decided on 20.1.2010 and subsequently this judgment has been followed in Hari Chand Kathpalia vs. State of Haryana and others, CWP No. 13525 of 1989 decided on 6.7.2010. 5. In terms of the said judgments, gratuity payable in such cases also. IN this case, the gratuity payable was Rs. 6623.70, but it appears that an amount of Rs. 1839.60 was paid and recorded in the order of the Appellate Authority itself. The amount that was payable, was therefore, Rs. 4784.10. The same shall be paid with interest @ 6% per annum from the date when the request was made by respondent No.1 in the year 1987, i.e. from 1.1.1987 till the date of payment. The same shall be paid within a period of three weeks from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order. 6. The learned counsel for the respondent states that the amount which is now determined by this Court, had been already stand deposited by the respondent before the Labour Officer, Kurukshetra. Respondent No.1 shall be at liberty to withdraw the Civil Writ Petition No. 614 of 1990 -3- same after satisfying the petitioner's claim in the interest. 7. The petition disposed of on the abovesaid terms. 25.3.2011 (K.KANNAN) 'sp' JUDGE