WP(C) 3574/2008 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR JUSTICE B.K. SHARMA The petitioners are the retired employees of the Assam Khadi & Village I ndustries Board. Their prayer is to provide them gratuity as per provision of Pa yment of Gratuity Act, 1972 as well as the office memorandum dated 16.03.2006. I n this connection, they have also referred to the order dated 20.04.2009 passed by this Court in W.P.(C) No. 3650/2002. By the said order, this Court directed f or payment of gratuity to the petitioner involved in the said case. As in the in stant case, in the said case also the petitioner was a retired employee of Assam Khadi & Village Industries Board. The Chief Executive Officer of the respondent Board has filed a counter affidavit on 29.03.2011 in which in paragraphs- 4 & 6 it has been stated thus: 4. That the statements made in paragraph-4 of the petition are incorrect and he nce denied. It is denied that the respondent authority has calculated the gratui ty of the petitioner on wrong basis. In this respect you deponent begs to state that the amount of gratuity to which the petitioner is entitled as per the Gratu ity Regulation framed in 1998 has been calculated and duly paid to him by the de ponent Board. At present the process for payment of gratuity in terms of the Gra tuity Act, 1972 is being taken up with the Government with regard to all the ret ired employees of the Board along with the petitioner. Subsequently, thereafter additional fund required for payment to the retired employees in terms of the Gr atuity Act has also been moved before the State Government vide office letters N o. (i) KBE 42/2009-10/12 dated 31.08.2009, (ii) KBE 42/2009-10/60 dated 23.10.20 09 and (iii) KBE 42/2009-10/62 dated 15.12.2009, with a request for allocating a n amount of Rs. 4,25,61,074.00. But inpsite of all the aforesaid communications the State Government have failed in responding to the same in any form whatsoeve r till date. 6. That with regard to the statements made in paragraph-8 of the writ petition, your deponent begs to state that in compliance with the Hon’ble High Court’s ord er passed in W.P.(C) No. 3650/2010 payment was made to the petitioner in the afo resaid case Shri Narendra Nath Saikia as per Gratuity Act. But the said process could not be initiated with regard to all retired employees of the Board since G overnment sanctioned with regard to the required allocation of fund in this rega rd is awaited. As soon as the State Government sanctions the fund required by th e Board (for payment to the retired employees as per Gratuity Act), the necessar y payments to all the retired employees along with the petitioner can be made by the Board. From the above statement it is seen that the respondent Board does not d eny entitlement of gratuity by the petitioners as per the provisions of Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. However, their only stand is that in spite of all request s made to the Govt. for allocating an amount of Rs. 4,25,61,074.00, the Govt. di d not respond. The respondent Board also admitted that the petitioner involved in the e arlier writ petition has been paid his gratuity as per the direction of this Cou rt. It is also stated that as soon as the Govt. sanctions the fund, the gratuity will be paid to the petitioner as per the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. If the petitioners are entitled to receive gratuity as per the provision s of Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, the respondents cannot withhold the same on the ground of non-availability of fund. The petitioners retired from service in 1999/2006 and by now several years have passed. In view of the above, the respondent Board including the State Govt. are directed to pay the admissible gratuity to the petitioners as per the provision of Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 as expeditiously as possible, but at any rate, not later than 30.09.2012.