Delayed payment of gratuity under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 incurs interest at 7% per annum, and statutory revisions to gratuity entitlements must be honored.

JUDGMENT

Arindam Lodh, J. - Heard Mr. P. Roy Barman, learned senior counsel assisted by Mr. K. Nath, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. D. Bhattacharya, learned GA assisted by Ms. S. Nag, learned counsel appearing for the State-respondents and Mr. K. C. Bhattacharya, learned counsel appearing for the respondent-TRTC.

2. By means of filing the present writ petition, the petitioner has prayed for the following reliefs:

'(i) Issue Rule upon the Respondents to show cause as to why writ in the nature of Mandamus and/or order/orders and/or direction/directions of like nature shall not be issued whereby directing the Respondents to make the full and final payment of Gratuity with interest @ 9% per annum to the Petitioner, w.e.f. the date on which gratuity became payable till date of payment.

(ii) Issue Rule upon the Respondents to show cause as to why writ in the nature of Mandamus and/or order/orders and/or direction/directions of like nature shall not be issued whereby directing the Respondents to pay interest on Rs. 10,00,000/- w.e.f. 01.07.2020 to 30.06.2021.

(iii) Make the rules absolute.

(iv) Call for records.

(v) Pass any further order/orders as this Hon'ble High Court considered fit and proper.

3. Briefly stated, Lt. Dharani Rema, the husband of the petitioner was an employee of TRTC. Said Lt. Dharani Rema retired from service on 31.05.2020 and died on 02.10.2020. He was paid gratuity amount of Rs. 10,00,000/- on 30.06.2021. It is undisputed that the petitioner is entitled to further amount of gratuity to the tune of Rs. 7,26,153 since, ceiling limit was revised and enhanced to Rs. 20 Lakh by the Act 12 of 2018 having its effective date on and from 29.03.2018.

4. Furthermore, the gratuity amount for Rs. 10 Lakh was not paid to the petitioner within 30 (thirty) days from the date of retirement as per Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 and for such delayed payment i.e. after the expiry of the statutory period of 30 (thirty) days, the said amount of Rs.10 Lakh would carry interest @ 7% per annum.

5. In the above circumstances following directions are made:

(a) The respondent-TRTC is to pay interest @ 7% per annum upon the gratuity amount, which was already paid to the petitioner (i.e. Rs. 10,00,000/-) for the period starting from 01.07.2020 to 30.06.2021;

(b) The respondent-TRTC is to make further payment of gratuity to the tune of Rs. 7,26,153/- which will carry 7% interest w.e.f. 29.03.2018 (by Act 12 of 2018) till the date of actual payment.

6. With the aforesaid direction, the instant writ petition stands allowed and disposed.