It is not only illegal and arbitrary but also a sin if the pension and retiral benefits of employees are withheld: Manipur High Court

IN THE HIGH COURT OF MANIPUR AT IMPHAL WP(C) No. 4119 Shri. Y. Thaiba aged about 72 years permanently resident of Liyai Village P.O & P.S Tadubi Senapati District Manipur 795104. Versus … Petitioner 1. The State of Manipur represented by the Commissioner Secretary Education Govt. of Manipur at Secretariat Building Babupara Imphal 795001. 2. Director Education Manipur. Govt. of Manipur at RIMS Doctors Colony Lamphelpat Imphal Manipur 795004. 3. The Chief Executive Officer Autonomous District CouncilSenapati Senapati District Manipur. 795106. 4. The Accountant General Manipur at Imphal. Babupara Imphal 795001. … Respondents B E F O R E HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE KH. NOBIN SINGH For the petitioner ∷ Shri S. Thoi Thoi Meitei Advocate For the respondents ∷ Shri Th. Vashum GA Shri Moses Pao Advocate Date of Hearing ∷ 08 11 2021 Date of Judgment & Order ∷ 24 11 2021 JUDGMENT AND ORDER Heard Shri S. Thoi Thoi Meitei learned Advocate appearing for the petitioner and Shri Th. Vashum learned GA appearing for the respondents while Shri Moses Pao learned Advocate appears for the Accountant General Manipur. By the instant writ petition the petitioner has prayed for issuing WP(C) No. 4119 Contd… a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ to direct the respondents to grant him his pension and retirement benefits with @ 10% interest from the date of his retirement and also to direct the respondents to fix the responsibility for not granting them to him. In addition thereto a prayer has been made to direct the respondents to extend the benefit of the judgment and order dated 07 10 2016 passed by this Court in WP(C) No.5616. 3.1] According to the petitioner he was initially appointed as the Assistant Teacher on regular basis vide order dated 27 01 1972 of the DEO Directorate of Education(S) Manipur and he continued to work in that capacity till 28 02 1973 when he was sent on deputation to District CouncilTadubi vide order dated 27 08 1973. 3.2] The petitioner on deputation started discharging his duties as a Assistant teacher at Liyai Primary High School under the Autonomous District Council Senapati Senapati District Manipurand had been rendering his service sincerely and faithfully without any stigma till the issuance of a conditional termination order dated 29 02 2008 by the Chief Executive Officer ADC Senapati by which he was allowed to retire from service on attaining the age of superannuation with effect from 29 09 2008(A N) subject to the approval of the Director of Education(s) Government of Manipur. 3.3] In order to grant the approval by the Director of Education Manipur he approached him and other concerned authorities by WP(C) No. 4119 Contd… submitting representation after representation so that he could be formally allowed to retire from service and he could enjoy his pension and retiral benefits. Being aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the Respondents the petitioner approached this Court by way of writ petition being WP(C) No.7616 which was disposed of on 07 10 2016 with the direction that the State Respondents should pass appropriate orders so that the petitioner could enjoy his pension and retiral benefits within a period of two months therefrom. 3.4] Since the State respondents failed to comply with this Court’s order dated 07 10 2016 a contempt case being Contempt Petition No.317 came to be filed by the petitioner. Surprisingly during the pendency of the said contempt case the State respondents preferred an appeal being WA No.31 of 2018 along with MC No.45 of 2018 challenging the order dated 07 10 2016. After having heard the parties this Court dismissed the appeal vide its order dated 13 12 2018. 3.5] In compliance with this Court’s order dated 07 10 2016 the Director of Education(S) Government of Manipur issued an order dated 11 02 2019 allowing the petitioner to retire from service on attaining the age of superannuation with effect from 29 02 2008 No. 4119 Contd… 3.6] Being aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the respondents the petitioner filed the instant writ petition on the inter alia grounds that the respondents being the "State" under Article 12 of the Constitution of India its officers are public functionaries. Public authorities acting in violation of constitutional or statutory provisions oppressively are accountable for their behaviour. In a welfare State like India which is governed by the rule of Law it is the duty of the respondents to follow and obey the rule of law and their inaction depriving the petitioner from enjoying his pension and retirement benefit in spite of his retirement is unconstitutional bias and arbitrary. In order to substantiate his case the petitioner has referred to and relied upon various decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The stand of the State Government as reflected in their affidavit is that the petitioner could not produce the order dated 27 08 1973 nor was his name found in the list of teachers transferred on deputation to ADC Senapati. The order dated 11 02 2019 issued by the Director of EducationManipur allowing him to retire from service with effect from 29 02 2008 was not the final order and it was made subject to the outcome of the petition for special leave to appeal preferred before the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide Diary No.16916 of 2019. An affidavit was filed by the respondent No.3 stating that the petitioner had been working as Assistant Teacher under the District Council Tadubi the ADC Senapati vide order dated 27 08 1973 and was allowed to retire from service on attaining the age of superannuation vide order dated 29 02 WP(C) No. 4119 Contd… S) Manipur. 2008 subject to the approval being granted by the Director of Education 5] In his rejoinder the petitioner stated that on 03 05 2019 the State Government preferred a defective special leave petition before the Hon’ble Supreme Court which was not cured till 13 09 2019 when the their affidavit was filed in this Court. The State Government did file it deliberately to delay the conclusion of the proceedings pending before this Court. Thereafter on 17 02 2020 the petitioner filed an additional affidavit enclosing therewith a copy of the order dated 14 02 2020 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court dismissing the said special leave petition. After the special leave petition having been dismissed the Addl. Director of EducationManipur issued an order dated 19 10 2020 modifying its earlier dated 11 02 2019 to the effect that the petitioner is allowed to enjoy retirement benefits and other as admissible under the rules. 6] After the order dated 19 10 2020 being issued by the State Government the instant writ petition could have been disposed of but the grievance of the petitioner is that the pension and retiral benefits have not yet been given to him. In other words no amount towards his pension and retiral benefits has been released to him. 7] It may be noted that the petitioner claimed that he was initially appointed as Assistant Teacher on regular basis in the Education Department Government of Manipur vide order dated 27 01 1972 and thereafter he was sent to ADC Senapati on deputation. While on WP(C) No. 4119 Contd… deputation he was allowed to retire from service on attaining the age of superannuation with effect from 29 02 2008 subject to the approval to be granted by the State Government. But the approval was not granted by the State Government despite several representations being submitted by the petitioner. When the petitioner approached this Court by way of a writ petition being WP(C) No.563 of 2016 it was disposed of on 07 10 2016 by this Court with the direction that the State Government should issue appropriate orders so that the petitioner could enjoy his pension and retiral benefits within two months thereform. This order dated 07 10 2016 had attained finality when the State Government’s special leave petition being dismissed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 14 02 2020. It ought to be complied with by the State Government and having no alternative the State Government issued the order dated 19 10 2020 towards the compliance of this Court’s order. 8] The contention of the counsel appearing for the petitioner is that the order dated 19 10 2020 being issued by the State Government the petitioner has not yet been given his pension and retiral benefits. The short question that arises for consideration by this Court is as to whether the issuance of the order dated 19 10 2020 by the State Government would suffice in the sense that it would serve the purpose of complying with this Court’s order dated 07 10 2016. The answer is in the negative for the reason that even after a lapse of more than a year from the day of issuing the said order dated 19 10 2020 the petitioner has not yet been given the opportunity to enjoy his pension and retiral benefits. WP(C) No. 4119 Contd… There is no guarantee that the needful would be done by the State Government within a reasonable time from now onwards. 9] In State of Kerala v. M Padmanabhan Nair 1 SCC 429 the Supreme Court held as under: Pension and gratuity are no longer any bounty to be distributed by the Government to its employees on their retirement but have become under the decisions of this Court valuable rights and property in their hands and any culpable delay in settlement and disbursement thereof must be visited with the penalty of payment of interest at the current market rate till actual payment." It has further been held: Since the date of retirement of every Government servant is very much known in advance we fail to appreciate why the process of collecting the requisite information and issuance of these two documents should not be completed at least a week before the date of retirement so that the payment of gratuity amount could be made to the Government servant on the date he retires or on the following day and pension at the expiry of the following months. The necessity for prompt payment of the retirement dues to a Government servant immediately after his retirement cannot be over emphasized and it would not be unreasonable to direct that the liability to pay panel interest on these dues at the current market rate should commence at the expiry of two months from the date of retirement." On top of that in a catena of decisions the Hon’ble Supreme Court held that withholding of pension and other retiral benefits of retired WP(C) No. 4119 Contd… employees for years together is not only illegal and arbitrary but a sin if not an offence since no law has declared so. The officials who are still in service and are instrumental in such delay causing harassment to the retired employee must however feel afraid of committing such a sin. It is morally and socially obnoxious. It is also against the concept of social and economic justice which is one of the founding pillar of our constitution. 10] In view of the aforesaid circumstances and the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court it is imperative on the part of the State Government to take immediate steps to ensure that the petitioner enjoys his pension and retiral benefits at the earliest possible. It is unfortunate that the petitioner after having retired in the year 2008 has not been able to enjoy his valuable rights and property as held by the Hon’ble Supreme Court for the last more than ten years and that too after the order dated 07 10 2016 having been passed by this Court. It may be noted that an order passed by the Court is binding between the parties and will have to be complied with by them. The failure to do so will attract the provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act. Simply and truly speaking the scheme of the Constitution envisages that an appeal can be preferred before the High Court against an order passed by the subordinate Court following the procedure prescribed in law and likewise an appeal can be preferred before the Hon’ble Supreme Court against the order passed by the High Court. The order passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court is final. This has exactly happened in the present case for the reason that the State Government did loss the battle upto Hon’ble Supreme Court and WP(C) No. 4119 Contd… therefore the compliance with this Court’s order dated 07 10 2016 by the State Government is indispensable for the end of justice. In fact the petitioner has been unfairly and illegally denied the opportunity of enjoying his pension and retiral benefits. 11] For the reasons stated hereinabove the instant writ petition is allowed with the direction that the respondents shall compute the pension and retiral benefits of the petitioner and pay him the amount thereof within three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment and order with interest thereon @ 8% per annum from date of his retirement till the date of payment. There shall be no order as to costs. FR NFR WP(C) No. 4119 Contd… 

Summary: Causing delay and or withholding the retiral benefits and pension of employees is against the concept of social and economic justice which is one of the founding pillars of our constitution. Such was held by The Hon’ble High Court of Manipur before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Kh. Nobin Singh in the matter of Shri. Y. Thaiba Vs. The State of Manipur [WP(C) No. 418 of 2019].  The present case was related to an appeal of mandamus nature prayed by the petitioner to direct the respondents to grant him his pension and retirement benefits with @ 10% interest from the date of his retirement. It was submitted that the petitioner was appointed as an Assistant Teacher on regular basis. He discharged his duties as Assistant teacher. He sincerely and faithfully provided his services ill the issuance of the conditional termination order. It was submitted that by submitting representation he could be allowed formally to retire from his services and enjoy the retiral benefits. Earlier, it was ordered by the Court that appropriate orders should be passed by the State respondents so that the petitioner could enjoy retiral benefits within two months. Further, it was found that the State respondents failed to comply with the order and due to which the petitioner had to file a contempt petition. Again, the petitioner had to file the instant Writ Petition under the same grounds against the State respondents since they failed to take any action for the same. The case of State of Kerala v. M Padmanabhan Nair, (1985) 1 SCC 429 was referred wherein The Hon’ble Supreme Court held that withholding of pension and other retiral benefits of the retired was both illegal as well as arbitrary. Creating delays causes harassment to the retired employee which is morally and socially obnoxious. The Hon’ble Court considering all the facts and submissions held that “ … he State Government is indispensable for the end of justice. In fact, the petitioner has been unfairly and illegally denied the opportunity of enjoying his pension and retiral benefits. For the reasons stated hereinabove, the instant writ petition is allowed with the direction that the respondents shall compute the pension and retiral benefits of the petitioner and pay him the amount thereof within three months, from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment and order, with interest thereon @ 8% per annum from the date of his retirement till the date of payment.”