Krishna Kant Jha vs State Of Jharkhand And Ors

The petitioner who has superannuated from the service after attaining the age of superannuation on 29.02.2016, has approached this Court with a prayer for a direction upon the respondents to pay the retiral dues such as Gratuity, Insurance, Pension and due amount of salary etc.,.

At the very outset, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner has superannuated from the services in the year, 2016 itself after attaining the age of superannuation, but till date he has received leave encashment amount of Rs. 64996.00/- only. The petitioner is though entitled for the other admitted retiral dues such as gratuity, insurance and pension etc., but the same has not been extended to him and as such, a direction be given upon the respondents to extend the same.

On the other hand, Mr. Sanjeev Thakur, learned counsel for the respondents draws the attention of the Court towards Annexure-12 of the writ petition and submits that already the funds have been allocated to Mines Board, Hazaribagh and information to that effect has also been given to Accountant General of Jharkhand and as such, submits that same shall be paid as early as possible.

Be that as it may, having gone through the rival submissions of the parties and on perusal of the records, this Court fails to understand that when the funds have already been made available on 25.09.2017 itself, then why the same has not been paid to the petitioner, if he is entitled for the same. Earlier, in the similar matter, this Court in W.P.(S). No. 2676 of 2016, after hearing the Counsels for the parties at length, has disposed of the said writ petition on 17.06.2019, with the following observations and directions to the State:-

Be that as it may. Having gone through the rival submissions of the parties and considering the fact that no decision has been taken on the pending representation of the petitioner and also considering the fact that large number of cases in regard to retirement benefit matters are pending in this Court, I am constrained to pass a general order that the concerned Government servants or their legal heirs and representatives should raise their claims afresh by filing representation in which they should give full details of their claims and also full address for communication henceforth before the concerned Heads of Departments, who shall grant a receipt in token thereof. The Heads of the respective Departments shall get the entire claim filed before him examined through various concerned authorities including Director, Provident Fund, District Provident Fund Officers and finally dispose them of by a reasoned order dealing with each and every claim separately and shall also issue necessary sanction order/authority slip for payment of admitted dues with statutory interest as well as the interest as per various, Government circulars/decisions taken in that regard within a period of 16 weeks from the date of the receipt of the claim.

Let it be made clear that the main responsibility for payment of all the admitted dues of the concerned Government servant shall be of the Heads of the concerned Departments. In case of any dispute in regard to any of the claims, they shall assign reasons for not accepting the same and shall communicate to the concerned Government servant within the aforesaid time. All the formalities such as filing of the indemnity bond or succession certificate etc., are to be completed by the claimant, then they must be communicated much before the expiry of the said period so that the claimant may meet the said requirement and the delay in payment of the legitimate dues is avoided.

The Accountant General, Jharkhand, who is represented by Mr. Sudarshan Shrivastava is directed to issue necessary authority slip within a period of one month of the receipt of the sanction order from the concerned authority in the State Government.

It is also made clear that non-compliance of any part of the aforesaid directions by any of the concerned authorities would constitute contempt of this Court and will be seriously viewed. This Court may also considered to award heavy penal interest and cost besides imposition of punishment in the contempt proceeding against the concerned Heads of the Departments/Accountant General, Jharkhand, which shall be realised from their pocket.

Let a copy of this order be handed over to the learned Advocate General for forwarding it to the Chief Secretary, who shall circulate it to all the Heads of the Departments for its strict compliance. The Office is further directed to send a copy of this order directly to the Chief Secretary, Government of Jharkhand and to the Director, G.P Fund, Jharkhand for circulation and its strict compliance.

Let a copy of this order be also handed over to Mr. Sudarshan Shrivastava, learned counsel for the Accountant General, for its strict compliance.

In view of the above judicial pronouncement, let the Deputy Commissioner, Hazaribagh as well as Deputy Commissioner, Giridih look into the matter regarding payment of admitted retiral dues of the petitioner and if it is found that petitioner is entitled for the said amount, same shall be extended to him, within a period of eight weeks' from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.

Resultantly, writ petition stands disposed of.