JUDGMENT

Dharmesh Sharma, J.

1. This common judgment shall decide the two above noted cross-appeals preferred by the parties as per Clause 10 of the Letters Patent, as applicable to the High Court of Delhi, thereby assailing the Impugned Judgment dated 20 September 2021 passed by the learned Single Judge of this court in `Alok Kumar Agarwal v. Union of India & Ors., WP(C) No. 2759 of 2021, whereby although the Writ Petition was dismissed, costs have been imposed upon the respondent authorities.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

2. In a nutshell, the petitioner initially joined Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) in November 1990 as Deputy Chief Engineer and later he migrated to private sector in 1996, and eventually retired as Chief Operating Officer from the Business Standard Limited 31 October 2014. During the course of his long period in service, both the petitioner and his employer contributed to the Employees Provident Fund^1[EPF] and it is an admitted fact that his last contribution to the EPF was in November, 2014. The grievance of the petitioner in the main Writ Petition, now as appellant in LPA No. 124/2022, is that soon after retirement on 31 October 2014, he had not withdrawn