Mr. Hemant Gupta, J.: - The present Letters Patent Appeal has been placed before this Bench after noticing divergent views of this Court in the judgments rendered in Gurdial Singh v. Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited and others, 2009(8) SLR 99; B.S. Gupta v. Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited and others, 2006(8) SLR 690; Dayal Singh v. Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, Panchkula and others, 2010(1) SLR 221 and Harbhajan Singh Riar v. State of Punjab and others, 2009(8) SLR 99 interpreting earlier Full Bench judgment reported as Dr. Ishar Singh v. State of Punjab and another, 1993(3) PLR 999 in different manner.

2. Earlier, the Full Bench of this Court in the judgment dated 9.11.2012, agreed with the view taken by the Division Bench in B.S. Gupta’s case (supra), holding that the amount of leave encashment is payable to the retiring employees and cannot be withheld notwithstanding the departmental inquiry or criminal proceedings pending against an employee. However, a review application was filed by the appellant pointing out that Rule 8.21(aa) of the Punjab Civil Service Rules, Volume-I, Part-I, Chapter- VIII, adopted by the appellant, provides for withh