In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh L.P.A. No. 1076 of 2009 (O&M) Date of decision: July 19, 2010 Prithvi Singh Bagri and others ... Appellants vs. State of Haryana and others ... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice M.M. Kumar Hon'ble Mr. Justice A.N. Jindal Present: Mr. Vishal Malik, Advocate for the appellants. Ms. Mamta Singhal Talwar, AAG, Haryana for the respondents No.1 to 3. Mr. Sandeep Singh, Advocate for the respondent No.4. 1. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 2. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest? A.N. Jindal, J This appeal under Clause X of the Letters Patent is directed against order dated 12.5.2009 passed by the learned Single Judge in C.W.P. No. 4794 of 1988. The prime question involved in this appeal is “whether the appellants were entitled to interest on the delayed payment? The factual matrix of the case is that the appellants were appointed to different posts in the Jat High School, Kaithal under respondent No.4 which is aided school where they worked during the period of 1986-1987. During the said period, a dispute arose regarding the election of the managing committee of the school. Ultimately, the suit filed by the committee, which had appointed the appellants, was decreed on 26.8.1987. Later on, the said committee was ousted, consequently, services of the appellants were also discontinued. However, they claimed their arrears of salary along with interest. The learned Single Judge, vide order dated 12.5.2009, disposed of the writ petition with the direction to verify the service of the appellants; the period during which they had not been paid L.P.A. No. 1076 of 2009 (O&M) -2- and after conducting this exercise to fix the pay of the appellants and grant the same to them. However, the learned Single Judge was silent about the payment of interest. Arguments heard. There is no denying a fact that the appellants worked in the school under the management of the respondent No.4 and they had not been paid the arrears of salary for a certain period which is to be verified from the respondent. Certainly, the appellants are entitled to arrears of salary for the period during which they worked and there is no reason or justification for not making payment of salary to the appellants. The delay appears to have occurred due to the dispute with regard to the election of the members of the management but the said delay cannot be shouldered upon the appellants. As such, they are certainly entitled to interest. With the entitlement of salary, since they remained unpaid, therefore, the respondents were bound to pay interest also over the amount illegally withheld by them. Resultantly, the appeal is partly accepted with the modification in the impugned judgment that the appellants would be entitled to interest @ 6% per annum on the arrears of salary with effect from the date when it became due. (M.M. Kumar) (A.N. Jindal) Judge Judge July 19, 2010 deepak