Civil Writ Petition No.13846 of 2010 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.13846 of 2010 Date of Decision : 26th May, 2011. Charanjit Singh ....Petitioner Versus State of Punjab & Others .....Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI Present: Mr.Tribhawan Singla Advocate for the petitioner. Ms.Anupal, AAG, Punjab. * * * Permod Kohli, J.(Oral) The petitioner has retired on 30.04.2010 from the post of a Clerk on attaining the age of superannuation. The respondents paid 90% of the GPF, leave encashment, and also provisional pension. The petitioner was informed by the Executive Engineer, Construction Division, PWD (B&R), Barnala that on account of objections raised by the Accountant General, his provisional pension will not be withdrawn till the sanctioning of the pension. This letter has been challenged in the present writ petition. The petitioner has further sought a direction for release of pensionary benefits. In the reply filed, it is stated that when the petitioner was in service, he committed various irregularities which came to the notice of the authorities after his retirement. A charge-sheet was prepared on 31.08.2010 by the Executive Engineer and has been forwarded to the Chief Engineer for approval. Admittedly, no action has been taken against the petitioner till date. No period of alleged irregularities has been mentioned nor the nature of irregularities disclosed. At this belated stage, the respondents are not entitled to initiate Civil Writ Petition No.13846 of 2010 2 disciplinary proceedings against the petitioner on totally vague grounds. Once the provisional pension has been sanctioned, it can not be stopped or withdrawn on flimsy and non-existent grounds. In view of the above, the petitioner is entitled to pensionary/retiral benefits. Accordingly, the present petition is disposed of with the direction to the respondents to settle all retiral/pensionary claims of the petitioner within a period of three months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order and release the same within a period of one month thereafter. The petitioner shall be entitled to interest on the delayed payment of GPF and death-cum-retirement gratuity at the statutory rate and interest @ 6% p.a. on delayed payment of other retiral benefits. The interest shall accrue on expiry of three months from the date of retirement. (PERMOD KOHLI) 26.05.2011. JUDGE Seema-II