Central Administrative Tribunal - Allahabad
Sangeeta Devi vs General Manager, N E Rly on 8 November, 2023
Open Court
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
ALLAHABAD BENCH ALLAHABAD
Dated: This the 08th of November 2023
PRESENT:
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Om Prakash VII, Member (J)
Original Application No. 330/00232 of 2021
Sangeeta Devi a/a 33 years, widow of late Shri Bachcha Lal, aged
about 33 years, R/o Quarter No. 125-DDS Colony, Lahartara, Varanasi.
Applicant
By Adv: Sri Manvendra Dixit/
Smt. Nisha D Shukla
VERSUS
1. Union of India through General Manager, North East Railway,
Gorakhpur.
2. General Manager, North East Railway, Gorakhpur.
3. Divisional Rail Manager, North East Railway, Varanasi.
.Respondents
By Adv: Shri K.K. Ojha
ORDER
The present O.A has been filed by the applicant under section 19 of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985 seeking the following reliefs:-
"(i) Issue an order or direction directing the respondents to grant and pay the 18% interest on the lump sum ex gratia compensation amount of Rs.
10,00000 ( Ten Lakhs) for its highly delayed payment, to the applicant from its due date i.e. 04.08.2009 till the date of its payment i.e. 03.03.2020.
(ii) Issue an order or direction directing the respondent to pay the 18% interest on the amount of interest on the lump cum ex-gratia compensation amount of Rs. 10,0000/- (Ten lakhs) also, from its due date till the date of its actual payment.
(iii) Issue any other suitable order or direction, which this Hon'ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper under the facts and circumstances of the case.
(iv) Award the costs of the application also in favour of the applicant".
22. The facts, in brief, are that applicant's husband met with train accident and died on 04.08.2009 while on official duty. According to the letter dated 01.05.2007, the cases of ex-gratia compensation must be settled within the maximum period of three months. When the applicant was not given the compensation even after three months, she met with Additional Zonal Engineer, East Mau regarding payment of ex-gratia amount. In response thereto, he wrote a letter on 21.02.2012 and thereafter Section Officer of the concerned Railway has written an application on 03.03.2012 (Annexure No.5 to the oA) to the authorities concerned for payment of ex-gratia amount. Thereafter on 03.03.2020, Rs. 10,00000/- has been deposited by the respondents in the Bank account of the applicant. Immediately applicant gave applications dated 30.07.2020 and 18.08.2020 to the General Manager, NE Railway, Gorakhpur claiming interest @ 18% per annum for delayed payment of aforesaid compensation amount. She further made a reminder to this effect by her application dated 11.01.2021. Till date her request for interest on delayed payment of ex-gratia compensation has not been given.
3. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties at length and perused the entire record.
4. Submission of learned counsel for the applicant is that applicant's husband was working in the respondents department. He met with train accident and died on 4.8.2009 during the service at work place. There is a scheme launched by the Railway Department for ex- gratia compensation of Rs. 10,00000/- to be paid to the wife/legal heirs of the deceased employee. It is also argued that respondents have paid ex-gratia compensation on 3.3.2020. No interest was paid on the amount paid as ex-gratia. It is also argued that applicant is entitled for interest on the delayed payment. To substantiate his argument, learned counsel for the applicant relied upon the following case laws.
(i) Smt. Bimla Devi Vs. Union of India and others decided on 17.04.2018 in OA No. 1103/2016 by CAT, Principal Bench, New Delhi.
3(ii) Smt. Premwati Vs Union of India and others decided on 29.11.2018 in OA NO. 3785/2017 by CAT, Principal Bench, New Delhi.
Further, learned counsel for the applicant argued that OA be allowed and respondents be directed to pay interest as claimed in the OA from the date when ex-gratia amount become due till its actual payment.
5. Learned counsel for the respondents vehemently argued that there is no provision for payment of interest on ex-gratia amount, as and when applicant applied for ex-gratia payment, respondents after scrutinizing the matter immediately paid the ex-gratia amount. No delay is occurred on part of the respondents. It is specifically argued that applicant had applied for ex-gratia amount in the year 2019, therefore, respondents cannot be fastened any responsibility for payment of interest on ex-gratia amount, thus prayer was made to dismiss the OA.
6. I have carefully gone through the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the parties.
7. The core issue involved in the present OA is regarding interest on the delayed payment of ex-gratia compensation. Since applicant has herself admitted that ex-gratia amount has been credited on 03.03.2020 in her bank account, hence in the opinion of Tribunal, she is entitled for interest on the delayed payment, which is sought in the OA.
8. Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of D.D. Tiwari (D) Thr. LRs Vs. Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd and others reported in 2014 (3) SLJ 118 has held that "interest on delayed payment of pensionary benefits and gratuity amount erroneously withheld by the employee has to be paid and accordingly awarded 9% interest from the date of entitlement till the date of actual payment.
49. Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Dhruba Charan Panda Vs. State of Orissa, 1991 (II) OLR 433 has held as under:-
"18. We dispose of this application with a direction to the State Government to administratively instruct all the Heads of Departments and the concerned officials to ensure that different steps prescribed to be taken under the Rules are rigidly followed and any non-observance thereof is to be strictly viewed. If there is any delay in payment of pension the pensioner shall be entitled to 1 8% interest per annum for the period of delay and this interest shall be recovered from the person/persons responsible for the delay. While fixing the rate of interest, we have kept in view the minimum bank rate of interest charged for borrowing from bank. This aspect shall also be notified to all concerned. We are sure, if such stringent steps in addition to those, which the State Government may feel necessary to impose, are taken there shall be strict compliance of the requirement of law and in future the old retired persons shall not be required to move in the corridors of the Courts with tears in their eyes and a faint ray of hope of getting remedy early, and not posthumous. We record our appreciation for the able and fair assistance rendered by all learned counsel who appeared in the case for various parties. No costs."
10. The Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Vijay L. Mehrotra Vs. State of U.P. and others reported in (2001)9 SCC 687 , has held as under:-
"3. In case of an employee retiring after having rendered service, it is expected that all the payments of the retiral benefits should be paid on the date of retirement or soon thereafter if for some unforeseen circumstances the payments could not be made on the date of retirement.
4. In this case, there is absolutely no reason or justification for not making the payment for months together. We, therefore, direct the respondents to pay to the appellant within 12 weeks from today simple interest at the rate of 18% with effect from the date of her retirement i.e. 31.8.1997 till the date of payments".
11. In view of the aforesaid reasons, the respondents cannot deny the interest on delayed payment of ex-gratia amount to the applicant for a mistake or delay committed by official. This being so, there is no reason that the applicant should be put into financial disadvantage if delay in actual payments is caused by a course of events which were not caused by her but were attributable to the respondents. In the present case, there is no reason or ground forthcoming in the pleas of the respondents that the applicant was responsible for the delay in the 5 disbursement of her ex-gratia amount. Consequently, it is just and fair that the respondents should compensate the applicant for this delay through payment of interest for the period of delay.
13. In view of the settled position of law and facts and circumstances of the case as discussed above, the OA is allowed with a direction to the respondents to pay interest to the applicant on the delayed payment of arrears of ex-gratia amount from 01.01.2010 to 03.03.2020 (date of actual payment) @ 6% simple per annum. This exercise shall be completed within a period of two months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. No order as to costs. All associated MAs are disposed of.
(Justice Om Prakash -VII) Member (J) Manish/-