Patna High Court - Orders
Nilima Kumari, vs The State Of Bihar on 6 January, 2020
Author: Chakradhari Sharan Singh
Bench: Chakradhari Sharan Singh
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.20227 of 2019
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Nilima Kumari ... ... Petitioner
Versus
The State of Bihar & Ors. ... ... Respondents
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Appearance :
For the Petitioner : Mr. Shivendra Kishore, Senior Advocate
Mr. Uttam Kumar Mishra, Advocate
Mr. Saroj Kumar, Advocate
For the Respondent State: Mr. Gyan Prakash Ojha, G.A.-7
Mr. Abhishek Singh, AC to GA-7
For the Accountant General : Mr. Raj Nandan Prasad, Advocate
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE CHAKRADHARI SHARAN
SINGH
ORAL ORDER
5 06-01-2020The petitioner retired on 31.01.2018 as Lady Supervisor in the Welfare Department of the Government of Bihar. This application has been filed seeking direction to the State respondents for payment of her retiral and other dues. In compliance of this Court's order dated 02.12.2019, a counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of respondents No. 4 and 5 making following statement in paragraphs 5 and 6 : -
"5. That it is stated that in para-11 of the counter affidavit vide Annexure-D, it is stated that a sum of Rs.5,08,554 (Five lacks Eight Thousand and Fifty Four) have been sanctioned and put up for payment in treasury on 29.11.2019 under different heads i.e., House Rent Allowances, Dearness Allowance, Medical Allowance however due to technical requirements, the treasury has returned the same and the payments are being made afresh in the following manners : -
Details of payments of arrears of salary (including H.R.A./D.A./M.A.) Patna High Court CWJC No.20227 of 2019(5) dt.06-01-2020 2/4 Bill No. For the Month and Year Amount 28/2019-20 February 2014 Rs.28,253 29/2019-20 May 2015 to August 2015 Rs.1,13,012 30/2019-20 Jan 2017 to May 2017 Rs.1,41,265 35/2019-20 April 1997 to October 2003 Rs.1,33,092 36/2019-20 April 2007 to May 2017 Rs.9,95,136 37/2019-20 Salary for June 2017 to Dec.2017 Rs.4,46,800 38/2019-20 June 2017 to January 2018 Rs.43,403 [Amount of Dearness Allowance + House Rent Allowance+ Medical Allowance] 42/2019-20 Pay of January 2018 Rs.64,100
6. That it is stated that arrear of salary for October1993 to February 2013, a sum of Rs.3,61,419 (Three Lakhs Sixty One Thousand Four Hundred Nineteen) have been paid vide bill No. 40/2019-20.
Details are indicated in the chart."
It further appears that after passing of the said order, payment of Group Insurance amount and General Provident Fund amount have been sanctioned. It has further been stated that against provisional pension for the period of February, 2018 to November, 2019, a sum of Rs.7,25,356/- has been paid and steps have been taken for payment of final pension by sanctioning the same with a request to the Accountant General, Bihar, to issue authority slip.
In respect of grant of Assured Career Progression and Modified Assured Career Progression, it has been stated that the steps have been taken and necessary recommendations have Patna High Court CWJC No.20227 of 2019(5) dt.06-01-2020 3/4 been made to the Deputy Director, Welfare, Magadh Division, Gaya, vide letter dated 30.12.2019.
It is, thus, apparent from the counter affidavit itself that when the petitioner was in service, she was entitled for Assured Career Progression/Modified Assured Career Progression according to the scheme of the State Government, which has so far not been finalized. She has not been paid her final pension and even provisional pension has been paid after the Court took-up the matter on 02.12.2019. Evidently, the sanction of pension and gratuity has been made without giving the petitioner benefit of ACP/MACP. It goes without saying that the petitioner's pension will have to be revised again after she is granted ACP/MACP.
Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the State respondents has submitted that payment of retiral dues of the petitioner is being keenly monitored and the same shall be paid as soon as it is possible. There is no explanation, however, as to why the petitioner could not be paid her retiral dues for all these two years.
It has already been noticed in one of the cases that the respondents have failed to allow the employees of the State of Bihar the Assured Career Progression/ Modified Assured Career Patna High Court CWJC No.20227 of 2019(5) dt.06-01-2020 4/4 Progression when they became entitled to and there are numerous cases where the employees have to approach this Court for a simple direction to the respondents to consider grant of ACP/MACP. This Court is overburdened with such unnecessary litigations and, in Court's opinion, mainly because of apathetic and indifferent approach of the respondents.
I, therefore, direct the Additional Chief Secretary, Personnel Department, Government of Bihar, to constitute a State Level Committee solely for the purpose of overlooking and monitoring grant of ACP/MACP to the employees under the State of Bihar, irrespective of the Departments under which they are serving or have been serving. The Committee must be headed by the Additional Chief Secretary of the Department himself and must be constituted within one week from today.
List this case 20.01.2020 for the petitioner to consider the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the State respondents.
(Chakradhari Sharan Singh, J) Pawan/-
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