High Court · 2012

The respondents have filed their counter affidavit stating that the dues payable to the petitioners, who had gone on voluntary retirement in 1st, 2nd and 3rd ph ases, have been provided with as per the scheme of VRS. In paragraph 9 of the co unter affidavit, it has been stated that the amount payable under VRS in respect of CPF, Unutilised leave salary and the LIC policies have been paid to the peti tioners. However, in paragraphs 10 and 11 of the counter affidavit it has been s tated thus: (cid:28)10. That the statements made in paragraphs 11, 12 and 13 of the writ petition b eing matters of record, the deponent does not admit any statement mad therein th at is inconsistence with and contrary to the record. In this connection the depo nent further begs to state that Corporation has been facing acute financial cris is and hardship for the last 9/10 years and as a result, inspite of the best eff ort, it has not been able to pay the monthly salaries of the Corporation regular ly. The Corporation has also not been able to release the retirement benefits to its employees in time. It may be mentioned herein that because of such financia l hardship, the Corporation has also not been able to deposit the other dues suc h as, Life Insurance premiums of the employees and monthly installment of the HD FC loan deducted from the monthly salaries of the concerned employees; pay compe nsation payable in the claim cases and clear dues of other creditors etc. in tim e. As a matter of fact, this Hon’ble Court while disposing of a public interest litigation being PIL No. 24/99 has been pleased to direct the Corporation and th e Government to implement the Voluntary Retirement Scheme in the Corporation as one of the remedial measures for revival of the Corporation and in terms of the direction issued by this Hon’ble Court, the Corporation has introduced the prese nt scheme. In view of the facts and circumstances stated hereinabove, the Corpor ation has not been able to implement the revision of pay scale recommended by th e Pay Commission to its employees as yet. Because of financial constraint, the C orporation has not been able to give the benefits of the revised salaries and de arness allowances as yet to any of the employees of the Corporation including th e retired employees. Said benefits will be made available to the employees of th e Corporation including the retired employees as soon as there is improvement of the financial crisis.

11. That with regard to the statements made in paragraphs 14 to 17 of the writ p etition, the answering respondents beg to state that payments towards CPF, Gratu ity, GIS and LIC Premiums of the employees who have retired under the VRS Scheme in Phase I, II and III have already been made after taking calculations as per rules and the VRS norms. In this connection the deponent further begs to stat th at the Corporation has not been able to pay arrear salaries and arrear dearness allowances to the petitioners and other employees because of financial crisis. H owever, the other allegations that the Corporation has not deposited the contrib utions towards CPF, Gratuity, GIS and LIC premiums of the petitioners and that t he petitioners at the time of voluntary retirement, received only the amount und er the said Heads which were deduced from their salaries are not true and, hence , same are hereby denied. (cid:29) Ms. Baruah, learned Standing Counsel, ASTC has drawn my attention to the judgmen t and order passed by this court in a batch of writ petition first one which WP( C) No. 1249/2005 (Sri Sadananda Bharali Vs. ASTC & Ors.) By the said judgment and order delivered on 17.5.2005, this Court issued the fol lowing direction (cid:28)Accordingly, in view of the aforesaid discussion it is directed that the corpor ation shall pay petitioners the amount, which were either paid by the petitioner s for deducted from their salary so as to bring them under the scheme in the 2nd phase. There is also a reference relating to the payment of other items, in the letter dated 07.02.2002 and if the Corporation has not paid any of the amount m entioned there, the same shall be made available to the said petitioners so far the items covered therein. So far, regarding the payment of compensation in terms of the letter No. ASTC/VR S/HS/2004/05/904 dated 04.12.2004 as claimed by the petitioners, it has been sub mitted by Ms. Barua that the letter was issued on 04.12.2004, and the same was n ot claimed by the petitioners. 15. From eth perusal of the aforesaid letter issued by the Managing Director of the Corporation it is seen that there is a reference of the notification ASTC/VR S/69/90/E/108 dated 20.9.2004 entitling to certain benefit of salary and DA. Thi s provision has not been incorporated in the Voluntary Retirement Scheme. It may be mentioned here in that in WP(C)(PIL) 24/99 the Division Bench of this court vide order dated 25.01.2002 granted certain benefit to the employees and the sch eme was directed to be modified accordingly. The benefit of the aforesaid circul ar does not appear to have covered in the compensation item of the benefit menti oned in the Voluntary Retirement Scheme as it exist now. Accordingly this matter is left to be decided mutually by the petitioner and the Corporation. The Corpo ration shall take such decision at the earliest in consultation with the petitio ners. The directions referred to above regarding the refund/payment of the salar y and benefit to the petitioners shall be implemented by the Corporation prefera bly within the period of 4 (four) months from the date of receipt of the certifi ed copy of the order. With the aforesaid direction, the bunch of the petitions i s disposed of. No. Costs. (cid:29) In terms of the above, these writ petitions are also disposed of directing the r espondents/ corporation to deal with the cases of the petitioners in terms of th e directions contained in the said judgment and order and also in terms of the s tand of the corporation referred to above. Necessary exercise shall be carried o ut as expeditiously as possible, preferably within four months. To facilitate the above exercise, the petitioners may approach the respondent co rporation by appropriate representation showing their dues enabling the corporat ion to take a decision in the matter. Writ petitions are disposed of.