Himachal Pradesh High Court
Roshan Lal Khajuria vs State Of H.P. & Anr on 10 January, 2023
Bench: Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Virender Singh
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT SHIMLA
CWP No.8025 of 2022
Decided on 10th January, 2023
Roshan Lal Khajuria
.
...Petitioner
Versus
State of H.P. & Anr.
...Respondents
Coarm
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Judge
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Virender Singh, Judge
1Whether approved for reporting?
For the petitioner: Mr. K.B. Khajuria, Advocate.
For the respondents: Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate
General, with Mr. Y.P.S. Dhaulta,
Additional Advocate General.
Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Judge (Oral)
The instant petition has been filed for grant of the following substantive reliefs:-
i) That the impugned order communication dated 10.10.2022 may kindly be quashed and set aside being void-ab-initio.
ii) That respondent No.2 may kindly be directed to release the interest as calculated by him on delayed payment of Gratuity in a time bound manner.
::: Downloaded on - 13/01/2023 20:31:09 :::CIS 2iii) That respondent No.2 may kindly be burdened with penal interest for denying the interest on the delayed payment of Gratuity that too after approval of the competent authority.
2. It is not in dispute that the petitioner retired on .
30.06.2017 and it is only thereafter, the departmental proceedings were initiated against him under Rule 14 of the CCS Rule 1965 vide memorandum dated 18.07.2017.
3. The petitioner had to approach the Court/Tribunal by filing CWP(OA) No. 2522 of 2020, titled as Roshan Lal Khajuria vs. passed against the State of H.P. & Anr., for quashing the disciplinary proceedings and thereafter for setting aside the order of suspension, which was petitioner only one day prior to his superannuation and the said petition was allowed vide order dated 30th December, 2021.
4. Despite the Secretary (Cooperation) to the Government of Himachal Pradesh having directed the Registrar Co-operative Societies to grant interest on delayed payment after the same had been approved by the Government vide letter dated 5th September, 2022 (Annexure P-4), which should have been a sufficient indication to the Registrar to put their house in order, yet the Registrar insisted for prolonging yet another round of litigation by passing the order dated 10th October, 2022 (Annexure P-6), which reads as under:-
::: Downloaded on - 13/01/2023 20:31:09 :::CIS 3"Your representation referred above was sent to Administrative Department for consideration, upon which the Administrative Department vide their letter No.Coop-E(2)-1/2018 dated 5th September, 2022 has approved to proceed in the matter as per government of India's decision No. (1) & (2) read with para 2(i) of .
decision No.3 below Rule 68 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.
The Government of India's decision No.(1), (2) and para2(i) of decision No.3 below rule 68 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, provide that where disciplinary or judicial proceedings against a Government Servant are pending on the date of his retirement, no gratuity is paid until the conclusion of the proceedings and the issue of the final orders thereon. The gratuity, if allowed to be drawn by the competent Authority on the conclusion of the proceedings will be deemed to have fallen due on the date of issue of orders by the Competent Authority. The Government servants who, on the conclusion of the proceedings are fully exonerated, the interest on the delayed payment of retirement gratuity may be allowed in their cases from the date following the date of retirement.
The departmental proceedings initiated against you under Rule 14 of the CCS Rules, 1965 vide memorandum dated 18.07.2017 issued by the Administrative Department and suspension order dated 29.07.2017 have been quashed and set aside by the Hon'ble High Court vide judgment dated 30.12.2021 on technical grounds and the same cannot be regarded as exoneration on merits. In the instant case, the advise to implement the judgment dated 30.12.2021 was conveyed vide AD letter No.Coop. E(2)-1/2018 dated 18.05.2022 and accordingly, the amount of DCRG was drawn and disbursed to you on 26.0-5.2022 i.e. within 8 days from the date of decision of the Competent Authority. Therefore, in view of the above, you are not entitled for interest on delayed payment of gratuity.
5. This act on part of the Registrar, in not complying with the directions of the Government clearly amounts to insubordination.
6. As already observed above, the departmental proceedings have been initiated against the petitioner only after ::: Downloaded on - 13/01/2023 20:31:09 :::CIS 4 his retirement, obviously, the same were required to be quashed. If that be so, then there can be no reason whatsoever to deny the petitioner, interest on the delayed payment, pursuant to the illegal .
action of the respondents.
7. In such circumstances, let a show cause notice be issued to the then Registrar Co-operative Societies, namely, Sh.
Rajesh Sharma, as to why in the given facts and circumstances of the case, the interest on delayed payment should not be personally recovered from him. Such reply be filed within a period of six weeks from today. In the meanwhile, respondents are directed to pay the interest on the delayed payment of gratuity within a period of four weeks from today. Such interest shall be recovered from the erring Officer, which may and can include the then Registrar Co-
operative Societies.
8. Petition stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms, so also the pending miscellaneous application(s), if any.
9. Now for compliance, to come up on 04.03.2023.
(Tarlok Singh Chauhan) Judge (Virender Singh) Judge January 10, 2023 (Vinod) ::: Downloaded on - 13/01/2023 20:31:09 :::CIS