Point of Law : It hardly needs to be emphasized that the executive instructions are not having statutory character and, therefore, cannot be termed as "law" within the meaning of aforesaid Article 300A. On the basis of such a circular, which is not having force of law, the appellant cannot withhold; even a part of pension or gratuity.

JUDGMENT :

1. Heard, Shri Sudeep Seth, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Shri Sridhar Awasthi, learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri A.R.Khan, learned counsel for the respondents.

2. The writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed challenging the resolution No.43 passed by opposite party no.2/Committee of Management, District Cooperative Bank Limited, Sitapur in its meeting dated 07.10.2013. The further prayer has been made for commanding the opposite parties to release and pay the retiral benefits of Gratuity amounting to Rs.6,17,905/-alongwith accrued interest thereon w.e.f. 01.07.2013 till the date of payment at the rate of 18% per annum to the petitioner.

3. The brief facts, for adjudication of the case, are that the petitioner retired on 30.06.2013 on attaining the age of superannuation from the services of respondent no.1/District Cooperative Bank Limited, Sitapur. The petitioner was informed about his retirement on 30.06.2013 by means of an order dated 22.06.2013 and his relieving on the said date as the charge was to be handed over to one Shri Ashish Shukla, who had to assume the charge. The petitioner received all the retiral benefits except the amount of Gratuity after his retirement on 30.06.2013. The petitioner made a representation dated 29.10.2013 and reminder dated 12.06.2014 to the opposite party no.1 for payment of his Gratuity. Thereafter he made a representation on 19.12.2014 to the opposite party no.2 for payment of Gratuity. On the representation dated 19.12.2014 of the petitioner the Chairman of the Bank made an endorsement to the Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Bank to make payment of Gratuity forthwith. However the Gratuity was not paid to the petitioner.

4. The petitioner approached to the Regional Labour Commissioner, who on an objection raised by the opposite party no.1 regarding jurisdiction of the Regional Labour Commissioner (Central), Lucknow, closed the case by means of the order dated 30.09.2015 and granted liberty to the petitioner to raise his grievance before the appropriate forum at State of U.P. Thereafter the petitioner approached the Assistant Labour Commissioner, Lucknow under the Payment of Gratuity Act 1972 vide P.G. Case No.124 of 2015. He disposed of the case by means of order dated 16.08.2016 on the ground that he has no jurisdiction. The petitioner thereafter approached to the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, U.P., Lucknow by means of the application dated 23.12.2016, who by means of the order dated 04.01.2017 directed to the Secretary/Chief Executive Officer to take necessary action for immediate payment of the amount of Gratuity of the petitioner. The response thereof was sent to the opposite party no.1 on 10.02.2017 informing that the post retiral benefits i.e. Provident Fund, Group Insurance and Leave Encashment have been paid to the petitioner on various dates. It had further been informed that the amount of Gratuity of Rs.6,17,905/-has been received from the Insurance Company but since the loan amount disbursed by the petitioner had not been recovered from the borrowers and the petitioner had not made any effort to recover the loan amount and the said accounts have become non performing assets (NPA) as such under the provisions of Payment of Gratuity Act 1972 the amount of Gratuity had been adjusted towards the NPA loan accounts of 8 borrowers. It was also informed that in case borrowers deposit the loan amount, the said amount would be paid/released to the petitioner. A certificate dated 24.04.2015 had been issued by the Mahmoodabad Branch of the Bank with respect to the three loan accounts in which the amount had been deposited from time to time.

5. The petitioner again approached to the Additional Commissioner and Additional Registrar (Banking), Cooperative Societies, U.P., Lucknow for payment of amount of Gratuity by means of representation dated 04.08.2018. In response thereof it was informed to the petitioner by means of let