The petitioner has sought for a writ of certiorarified mandamus to quash the order of the fifth respondent made in Na. Ka. No. 12/1150/98, dated 13.8.1998, ordering recovery of a sum of Rs. 70,028/- from his gratuity amount and consequently, direct the respondents 4 and 5 to pay the entire gratuity amount legally payable to him with interest at the rate of 18% from the date of the impugned proceedings till the date of payment of entire gratuity amount.

2. Brief facts leading to the writ petition are as follows:

The petitioner has passed the SSLC and ITI Electrician Grade and was appointed to the post of Switch Board Operator (General) in the erstwhile Salem Municipality, which was upgraded into Salem Corporation in year 1996. He retired from the said post on 28.2.1988 on attaining the age of superannuation. The petitioner has filed O.A. No. 4553 of 1991 on the file of the Tamil Nadu State Administrative Tribunal, Chennai for fixation of scale of pay and the Tribunal, on 2.8.1994, passed the following order:

“When the Government had issued General Orders for revision of the pay scales, the Departments in which such categories are employed should have taken action promptly