IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP-4664-2026 (O&M)

Date of decision: 16.02.2026 Raju ....Petitioner Versus State of Punjab and others ....Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARPREET SINGH BRAR Present: Mr. R.S. Dhillon, Advocate and Mr. Yuvraj Singh, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Vikas Arora, DAG, Punjab.

Mr. Sarbuland Singh Mann, Advocate for respondent No.4.

HARPREET SINGH BRAR J. (Oral)

1. Prayer in this writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, is for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus, directing the respondents to immediately release all the retiral benefits/dues and commence the monthly pension of the petitioner along with pensionary arrears by levying the penal and compensatory interest @ 10% regarding intentional delay as till date even after the last of nearly one year from the date of retirement of the petitioner, neither retiral benefits/dues payable at the time of retirement of the employee has been released nor his monthly pension payable to retired employee has been commenced by respondent No.3. Further prayer has been made to direct the respondents to decide the legal notice dated 01.12.2025 (Annexure P-2) filed by the petitioner.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner joined the respondent/Corporation on 22.04.1987 as a Safai Sewak and superannuated on 30.04.2025 with clean service record as discernible from Annexure P-1. On the eve of retirement of the petitioner, there was no pending departmental inquiry, disciplinary proceedings or criminal case against the petitioner. The petitioner made several representations before the respondent/Corporation and also served a legal notice dated 01.12.2025 (Annexure P-2), which remain unheeded.

3. Learned counsel for respondent No.4, on the other hand, submits that all the retiral dues of the petitioner will be paid within a period of four months from today.

4. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record with their able assistance.

5. A gainful reference can be made to the judgment rendered by a Full Bench of this Court in A.S. Randhawa Supg. Engineer (Retd.) vs. State of Punjab 1998 (1) SCT 343 wherein it was opined that disbursement of pension and other benefits payable at retirement must be done in a timely manner. Any delay over a period of two months, qua the said disbursement would entitle the retired employee to claim interest on the amount due. Speaking through Justice N.K. Sodhi, the following was held:

“9. Since a Government employee on his retirement becomes immediately entitled to pension and other benefits in terms of the Pension Rules, a duty is simultaneously cast on the State to ensure the disbursement of pension and other benefits to the retirer in proper time. As to what is proper time will depend on the facts and circumstances of each case but normally it would not exceed two months from the date of retirement which time limit has been laid down by the Apex Court in M. Padmanabhan Nair's case (supra). If the State commits any default in the performance of its duty thereby denying to the retiree the benefit of the immediate use of his money, there is no gainsaying the fact that he gets a right to be compensated and, in our opinion, the only way to compensate him is to pay him interest for the period of delay on the amount as was due to him on the date of his retirement. Again, as to what should be the rate of interest, it should, in our view, be generally 12% unless the circumstances of a particular case warrant the payment of a higher rate which may extend to even 18%.”(emphasis added)

6. Reliance in this regard may also be placed on the judgments rendered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in S.K. Dua vs. State of Haryana (2008) 3 SCC 44 and State of Kerala vs. M.

Padmanabhan Nair (1985) 1 SCC 429

7. In view of the above discussions and in the wake of the statement made by learned counsel for respondent No.4, the present petition is allowed. The responden