IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

228 Date of decision: 18.02.2026 Bimla Chalia .....Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and others .....Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAMIT KUMAR Present : Mr. Krishan Singh, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Satnampreet Singh Chauhan, DAG, Punjab.

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NAMIT KUMAR, J. (ORAL)

1. The instant petition has been filed under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India, seeking a writ of mandamus for directing the respondents to pay interest @ 18% on the delayed payment of Rs.59,47,051/- of retiral dues with effect from the due date i.e. 09.10.2018 upto the date of payment as per notification dated

20.02.2002 (Annexure P-9).

2. The petitioner, who was initially appointed as Medical Officer on 03.01.1987, was further promoted to the post of Senior Medical Officer on 27.05.2014; and Deputy Director on 27.04.2018 and attained the age of superannuation of 58 years on 30.06.2018 and was granted extension for one year with effect from 01.07.2018 to 30.06.2019, however, on her request, she retired from service w.e.f.

09.10.2018.

3. The grievance of the petitioner is that her retiral dues have been released after a considerable delay and details of the payments have been made in para 9 of the petition, which reads as under:-

“Date of Retirement-:9, October, 2018

4. Written statement by way of affidavit of Dr. Adarshpreet Kaur, Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, Chandigarh, on behalf of respondents No.1 to 4 has been filed, wherein the above-said payments have not been disputed, however, with regard to delay in release of retiral dues it has been stated as under:-

“xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx

4. That the respondent No.3 constituted a committee of 3 members for enquiry regarding embezzlement of NHM Funds. The committee found that Dr.Bimla Rani, Senior Medical Officer, C.H.C.Amloh District Fatehgarh Sahib had not made any entries in the cash book regarding the expenditure and no record of the funds which were allocated by the NHM Punjab to the C.H.C.Amloh was maintained. That the committee found defects/ irregularities in Cash Book, NHM Cash Book and user charges Cash Book.

5. That the petitioner was granted extension of one year w.e.f. 01.07.2018 to 30.06.2019 by the respondent No.1 vide order dated 20.06.2018 issued vide endorsement No.1/52/2018-3H1/2708 dated 25.06.2018, keeping in view the Instructions issued by the Government of Punjab, Finance Department(Finance Personnel-2 Branch) from time to time. But before completing one year of extension period, the petitioner left service on 09.10.2018. The Mission Director, NHM Punjab vide note dated 07.06.2018 recommended respondent No.2 to take suitable action against the Petitioner for the irregularities committed by her regarding NHM funds.

6. That it is submitted that the Pension Clearance Certificate in favour of the petitioner was issued by the respondent No. 2 vide letter No.4994-E2(1)Pb.18/5408-12 dated 16.10.2018 was immediately withheld after coming into notice the above said irregularities in NHM funds. Keeping in view the above said irregularities in NHM funds respondent No.2 vide order dated 31.10.2018 issued vide endorsement No.4994-E2(1)Pb.18/5896-97 dated 22.11.2018 Dr. Harish Malhotra, Deputy Director and Joint Controller (Finance & Accounts) was appointed as Inquiry Officer. But on account of the transfer of Dr. Harish Malhotra the enquiry could not be completed by them. In order to conduct enquiry, respondent No.2 vide endorsement No. 4994-E(1)Pb.18/3191-92 dated 26.06.2019 appointed Dr. N.K. Aggarwal, Deputy Director and Joint Controller (Finance & Accounts) as Inquiry Officer. Dr. N.K. Aggarwal, Deputy Director also could not complete the enquiry due to his transfer. After this, to enquire into these financial irregularities Office of respondent No.2 vide endorsement No.4994- E(1)Pb.19/3680 dated 17.07.2019 appointed Dr.Poornima Sehgal, Deputy Director and Joint Controller (Finance & Accounts) as Inquiry Officer. The Inquiry of