CWP No.11905 of 2010 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH ***** CWP No.11905 of 2010 Date of decision : 23.11.2010 Rajbir Singh .........Petitioner Vs. Haryana Power Generation Corp. Ltd. Through its Managing Director and others ........Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI Present : Mr.J.K.Goel, Advocate, for the petitioner Mr.R.S.Kundu, Advocate, for the respondents ----- Permod Kohli , J (Oral) :- The petitioner retired from service from the post of FM-II on 30.6.2009 on attaining age of superannuation. The grievance of the petitioner is that he was not paid the retiral benefits including 100% pension and gratuity. Respondent No.3 in a short reply, while giving details of the payments made, has stated that an amount of Rs.44,697/- has been recovered from the petitioner on account of wrong increment paid to him. It is further averred that except an amount of Rs.44,697/-deducted from the gratuity all payments including the commutation of pension stands released as on 3.9.2010. In so far, the deduction from the gratuity is concerned, CWP No.11905 of 2010 2 there is no justification for withholding the amount even if any wrong payment was made to the petitioner on account of increment. Such payment was not at the mis-representation or fraud attributable to the petitioner. No such plea is raised in the reply. Thus, no deduction is permissible in the light of Full Bench Judgment of this Court passed in CWP No.2799 of 2008 alongwith other connected matters (Budh Ram and others v. State of Haryana and others) decided on 22.5.2009. The petitioner has claimed interest on the delayed payment. In so far the gratuity is concerned, the petitioner is definitely entitled to interest . As far as other payments are concerned, it is specific stand of the respondents that on account of wrong increments, some delay has been caused. The petitioner retired on 30.6.2009. There has been a delay of about 14 months. In the totality of circumstances, the petitioner is not entitled to interest on the other delayed payments on account of processing and account checking etc. Let the gratuity be released within a period of two months from today, failing which the petitioner shall be entitled to further interest @ 6% P.A. Disposed of. (PERMOD KOHLI) 23rd Nov., 2010 JUDGE akm