Regular Second Appeal No.2373 of 2010 (O & M ) IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision: March 03 , 2011. Regular Second Appeal No.2373 of 2010 (O & M ) State of Punjab and others ….Appellants Versus H.S. Bedi ..Respondent CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE MOHINDER PAL. 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not. 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Present: Mr. Vivek Chauhan, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab, for the appellants. Mr.Devinder Singh, Advocate, for the respondent. -.- MOHINDER PAL, J. Defendants-appellants are in second appeal aggrieved against the judgments and decrees passed by both the Courts below whereby the suit filed by the plaintiff-respondent for recovery was decreed with costs and the defendants-appellants were directed to pay interest at the rate of nine per cent per annum on the amount of Regular Second Appeal No.2373 of 2010 (O & M ) gratuity of Rs.3,24,450/- upto 20.9.2006 and on the amount of leave encashment of Rs.2,74,350/- upto 12.12.2006 from the date of retirement of the plaintiff-respondent, who had retired as Superintending Engineer from the Irrigation Department, Punjab on 30.6.2003. The defendants-appellants were further directed to release the amount of Rs.25,550/- plus Rs.7080/- along with interest at the rate of nine per cent per annum from the date of retirement till its realization. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the impugned judgments. The plaintiff-respondent, who had retired from the post of Superintending Engineer from the Department of Irrigation, Punjab, on 30.6.2003, had filed the instant suit for recovery of Rs.8,79,036/- i.e Rs.6,19,040/- on account of gratuity and leave encashment and Rs.2,59,996/- on account of interest at the rate of eighteen per cent per annum. However, during the pendency of the suit, the defendants-appellants released the amount of gratuity of Rs.3,24,450/- , which was received by the plaintiff on 20.9.2006 and the amount of leave encashment of Rs.2,74,350/- , which was received by the plaintiff on 12.12.2006. However, Rs.25,550/- were withheld by the defendants from the amount of gratuity and Rs.7080/- from the amount of leave encashment. The defendants had withheld the amount of Rs.25,550/- of gratuity on the ground that the same was recoverable due to excess payment and no reason, whatsoever, had been given for withholding Rs.7080/- from the amount of leave encashment. No show cause notice was issued to the plaintiff by the defendants before withholding Rs.25,550/- from his amount of gratuity. Neither any criminal case was pending against the petitioner nor any departmental Regular Second Appeal No.2373 of 2010 (O & M ) inquiry had been initiated against him (plaintiff) by the department uptil the date of his retirement. Under these circumstances, no fault can be found with the impugned judgments and decrees passed by both the Courts below whereby the aforesaid relief of interest on the delayed payment of gratuity amount and leave encashment amount has been granted to the plaintiff. Since no show cause notice had been issued to the plaintiff by the defendants for withholding the amount of Rs.25,550/- of gratuity on the ground that the same was recoverable due to excess payment and, further, no reason had been given for withholding Rs.7080/- from the amount of leave encashment, both the Courts below were justified in granting the aforesaid relief in this behalf as well to the plaintiff. No question of law arises in this appeal for the consideration of this Court. Resultantly, this appeal is hereby dismissed being without any merit. However, there shall be no order as to costs. Dated: March 03,2011. (MOHINDER PAL) ak JUDGE