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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
ANUBHA RAWAT CHOUDHARY, J.
Sahdeo Tiwary, S/o Late Prayag Tiwary – Appellant
Versus
Jharkhand State Electricity Board – Respondent
W.P. (S) No. 5327 of 2013
Decided on : 04-01-2022
Employment and Service matter - Payment of interest - Superannuated from service - Petitioner superannuated from service but his GPF amount was not paid to him only in month and accordingly, petitioner has filed the present writ petition seeking a direction for payment of interest - Relied upon judgment passed by this Court reported - Point regarding payment of interest is squarely covered by aforesaid judgments - Representation dated (Annexure-7) and (Annexure-8) was also filed by petitioner in connection with payment of GPF with statutory interest, but GPF was sanctioned vide office order No. 4/ESE (T) dated including interest up to and payment was released, but up to date interest on GPF was not paid – Held, Court is of considered view that writ petition filed by petitioner does not suffer from delay and latches - In such view of matter, judgment relied upon by respondents passed in L.P.A. No. does not apply to facts and circumstances of present case - Accordingly, argument of respondents that claim of overtime bill is barred on account of delay and latches is rejected - Petitioner relied upon judgment passed by this Court reported in 2006 (3) JLJR 603 para 14 and 15, wherein one employee of Jharkhand State Electricity Board was held to be entitled to overtime bill on basis of its actual work - Learned counsel for respondents has made no attempt to distinguish aforesaid judgment relied upon by petitioner - So far as quantification of overtime dues is concerned, same has already been quantified to be as is apparent from Annexure-2 and said quantification as such is not under dispute from side of respondents - Present writ petition is hereby disposed of
JUDGMENT :
1. Heard Mr. Ashok Kumar Jha, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner.
2. Heard Mr. Om Prakash Tiwari, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents.
3. The present writ petition has been filed seeking a direction upon the respondents to pay the admitted dues of overtime wages of the petitioner amounting to Rs. 1,05,445.72, which has not been paid to the petitioner in spite of the fact that the same has been passed for payment and intimation to this effect has already been given to the Electrical Executive Engineer, Transmission Division, Deoghar in response to his letter No. 946 dated 29.12.2006 by the Electrical Executive Engineer, Transmission Division, Chandauli, Gaya vide letter No. 422 dated 21.07.2007.
The petitioner has further sought for a direction upon the respondents to pay interest on the GPF amount from September 2008 to April 2013 i.e. up to the date and month of its of payment as per Rule 14(4) of the G.P.F. Rules.
4. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner superannuated from the service on 31.08.2008, but his GPF amount was not paid to him only in the month of April, 2013 and accordingly, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition seeking a direction for payment of interest from September, 2008 to April, 2013. The learned counsel relied upon the judgment passed by this Court reported in 2007 (1) JLJR 448 (Bachoo Ram vs. Jharkhand State Electricity Board) para 3, 4 and 5 and also the judgment reported in 2007 (2) JLJR 127 (Bhagwat Narayan Jha vs. State of Jharkhand) para 7 and 8. The learned counsel submits that the point regarding payment of interest is squarely covered by the aforesaid judgments.
5. The learned counsel also submitted that the representation dated 26.08.2010 (Annexure-7) and 09.05.2012 (Annexure-8) was also filed by the petitioner in connection with payment of GPF with statutory interest, but the GPF was sanctioned vide office order No. 4/ESE (T) dated 28.02.2013 including interest up to 31.08.2008 and the payment was released, but up to date interest on the GPF was not paid.
6. So far as payment of overtime wages is concerned, the learned counsel submitted that the Electrical Executive Engineer, Transmission Division, Deoghar had sent a letter containing Letter No. 946 dated 29.12.2006 to the Electrical Executive Engineer, Transmission Division, Chandauli, Gaya to send the overtime bills of the petitioner for payment and consequently, the bill was sent vide letter No. 422 dated 21.07.2007, but in spite of the bill having been sent which relates to the period of overtime bills from December, 1997 to March, 2002, the payment was not made and ultimately, the petitioner retired with effect from 31.08.2008. He further submitted that a letter dated 12.02.2009 was issued by the Director of Personnel, Jharkhand State Electricity Board, Ranchi directing the Field Officers to submit the details of overtime work of the retired employees for the work done before bifurcation for payment and the petitioner submitted his application on 28.02.2009 giving the details of his overtime bills for payment, but in spite of repeated representations, the same was not paid.
7. The learned counsel referred to the judgment passed by this Court reported in 2006 (3) JLJR 603 (Nripendra Narayan Sinha vs. Jharkhand State Electricity Board, Ranchi & Ors.) para 14 and 15 and submitted that the entitlement of the petitioner to receive the payment of overtime as per actual hours of overtime work is fully covered by the aforesaid judgment. He submitted that L.P.A. No. 578/2006 was filed against the aforesaid judgment, which has also been dismissed vide judgment dated 03.09.2008.
8. In response, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents submitted that the entire amount of GPF with interest has already been paid to the petitioner and for this, he referred to para-5 of the counter-affidavit and submitted that the interest amount was also calculated for the
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