IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE THIRD DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G.BHAVANI PRASAD WRIT PETITION NO : 23782 of 2008 Between: 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, rep. by its Principal Secretary, I & CAD Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The Engineer-in-Chief (Admn) I & CAD, Errummanzil, Hyderabad. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 P.Satyanarayana R/o.D.No.45/169, N.R.Nagar, Kurnool. 2 The Accountant General (A&E), Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad (R-2 is a formal party as no relief is sought against him) .....RESPONDENTs Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a Writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Certiorari calling for the records relating to the orders of the Hon'ble A.P. Admn. Tribunal, Hyderabad passed in O.A.No.4722 of 2004 dated 8.7.2008, as being erroneous, illegal and unreasonable and quash the same and pass such other order or orders. Counsel for the PetitionerS: GP FOR SERVICES II Counsel for the Respondent No.: . The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G.BHAVANI PRASAD WRIT PETITION NO : 23782 of 2008 ORAL ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Sri. Justice Ghulam Mohammed) This writ petition is ﬁled challenging the order, dated 8.7.2008 passed by the A.P. Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad, in O.A.No.4722 of 2004. The 1st respondent herein is the applicant before the Tribunal. He ﬁled the above O.A., seeking to declare the action of the respondents therein for not paying interest at the rate of 12% on the delayed payments of pensionary beneﬁts to the applicant, as illegal and arbitrary and consequently, to direct the respondents to pay the interest at 12% on the balance pension and gratuity of Rs.3,13,693/- for a period of 3 years 5 months and 7 days and on commuted pension of Rs.3,16,359/- for a period of three years and 8 months and 7 days. The Tribunal having observed that the delay in payment of pension and gratuity and other retirement beneﬁts was due to the culpable lapse on the part of the respondents-authorities and no disciplinary proceedings were pending against the applicant by the date of his retirement and even if disciplinary proceedings were pending, the provisional pension has to be paid, but that was paid in the year 2003 and thus, the delay in payment of pensionary beneﬁts to the applicant is only due to the default on the part of the respondents but not on the part of the applicant and so, the applicant is entitled for interest on the delayed payment of pension, gratuity and other retirement beneﬁts, allowed the O.A. and directed the respondents-authorities to pay interest at the rate of 8% p.a., to the applicant on the delayed payment of pension, gratuity and other retirement beneﬁts from the date of his retirement till the date of payment. Having aggrieved by the same, the authorities preferred the present writ petition. Heard the learned Government Pleader for Services II and perused the material available on record. Before going to decide the issue involved in this writ petition, it is relevant to note the facts of the case on hand. Originally, an order was passed on 5.10.1992 for recovery of Rs.1,000/- p.m., from the salary of the applicant for not accounting the cement stock from the year 1983 – 1986. Then, the applicant ﬁled O.A.No.5644 of 1994, in which, the Tribunal set aside the order, dated 5.10.1992. After his retirement, as ‘no due certiﬁcate’ was not issued, the applicant ﬁled O.A.No.2440 of 2001, wherein the Tribunal passed an interim order directing to issue “No due Certiﬁcate”, against which, the Government ﬁled Review M.A., in which, the Tribunal passed an order dated 21.10.2001 directing to withhold an amount of Rs.5 Lakhs. Aggrieved by the same, the applicant ﬁled W.P.No.2331/2001 before this Court and the said WP was allowed setting aside the direction of the Tribunal. The applicant retired on 31.7.2000 and he was not paid the provisional pension and there was delay in payment of actual pension, balance of pension and gratuity. It is the contention of the applicant that the delay in payment of pension and other beneﬁts is only due to the lapses on the part of the respondents-authorities whereas it is the contention of the authorities before the Tribunal that due to Court litigation, the pensionary benefits could not be paid to the applicant in time. It is the contention of the learned Government Pleader that the delay occurred due to the litigation pending in the Courts and as such, no lapses can be fastened against the respondents and that as per Government Circular Memo No.16077/135/A/Pension.1/2004 Finance (Pension-1) Department, dated 20.2.2006, the interest allowed to be paid on delayed payment of retirement gratuity is 4.5% p.a., for a period beyond 3 months and upto 1 year and 5% p.a., beyond 1 year, after the gratuity becomes due and payable till the end of the month preceding the month on which the payment is actually made and therefore, the interest awarded by the Tribunal is usurious and excessive. On a perusal of the material available on record, it is obvious that the order passed by the authorities to recover the amount from the applicant was set aside by the Tribunal by order dated 9.12.1994 and the said order of the Tribunal has become final. In these circumstances of the case and in view of the multiplicity of proceedings, which have become ﬁnal and in view of the fact that the pensionary beneﬁts of the applicant have not been released in time in the absence of any charges, there is no othergo except to hold that there is default on the part of the respondents- authorities in payment of the pension within the time as rightly observed by the Tribunal. Therefore, the order of the Tribunal needs no interference and consequently, this writ petition is devoid of merits and the same is liable to be dismissed. Accordingly, this writ petition is dismissed. No order as to costs. However, time granted by the Tribunal is extended by two more weeks from today. __________________________ Justice Ghulam Mohammed ________________________ Justice G. Bhavani Prasad Date: 3.11.2008 Nn THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G.BHAVANI PRASAD WRIT PETITION NO : 23782 of 2008 (Order delivered by Hon’ble Sri Justice Ghulam Mohammed) 3.11.2008