BENCH AT JAIPUR v. The State Bank Of India

: Mr. Kunal Rawat Ms. Dhriti Sharma For Respondent(s) : Ms. Anita Agarwal Mr. Anubhav Agarwal JUSTICE ANOOP KUMAR DHAND Order 06/02/2025

1. By way of filing this writ petition, a prayer has been made for issuing directions to the respondent to grant interest on the delayed payment of retiral dues i.e. gratuity.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the services of the petitioner were terminated by the respondent on

10.07.1973 and the said order was assailed by the petitioner before this Court by way of filing S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.7928/2011, the said petition was allowed by this Court vide order dated 10.11.2017 and the respondent was directed to treat the period of service of the petitioner continuous from 18.09.1972 for the purpose of pension and retiral benefits as the petitioner stood retired on 31.01.2011 after attaining the age of superannuation. Learned counsel submits that a direction was [2025:RJ-JP:5285] (2 of 4) [CW-17048/2018] issued to the respondent to pay above benefits within a period of three months. Learned counsel submits that aggrieved by the aforesaid order, the respondent preferred D.B. Special Appeal Writ No.59/2018, however, the same was rejected and additional direction was issued by the Division Bench for making the terminal benefits to the petitioner within a period of 60 days.

3. Learned counsel submits that once the termination order of the petitioner was quashed by the co-ordinate Bench of this Court in the earlier round of litigation, the respondent was supposed to make the payment with interest with effect from the date of his retirement but without making any payment on interest with effect from the date of his retirement, the payment has been made on 24.07.2018 without interest, hence under these circumstances, the petitioner is entitled to get interest.

4. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondent opposed the arguments raised by learned counsel for the petitioner and submitted that in the initial writ petition submitted by the petitioner, a prayer was made by him for grant of remaining gratuity and fixation of his pension, while counting his services with effect from 18.09.1972 till 31.01.2011. Learned counsel submits that while deciding an earlier writ petition, the co-ordinate Bench of this Court has not passed any order/direction to the respondent to make the payment of retiral dues to the petitioner with interest. The only direction issued was for paying the retiral dues. Learned counsel submits that aggrieved by the aforesaid order, an appeal was submitted by the respondent, however, the same was rejected vide order dated 17.01.2018 with directions to the respondent to make the payment of terminal benefits to the [2025:RJ-JP:5285] (3 of 4) [CW-17048/2018] petitioner within a period of 60 days and immediately, thereafter, benefits were paid to the petitioner on 24.07.2018, hence under these circumstances, the petitioner is not entitled to get any sort of interest and the writ petition is liable to be rejected.

5. Heard and considered the submissions made at Bar and perused the material available on the record.

6. Perusal of the record indicates that the petitioner was appointed on temporary capacity on 18.09.1972 and his services were terminated by the respondents on 10.07.1973, thereafter he raised an industrial dispute before the Tribunal and his termination order was held to be unjustified and, thereafter, the matter came before this Court by way of filing S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.7928/2011 and the said petition submitted by the petitioner was allowed by this Court vide order dated 10.11.2017 with the following directions:- “(7) In view of the aforesaid, this writ petition deserves to be allowed and is accordingly allowed with direction to treat the period of service of the petitioner continuous from 18.9.1972 for the purpose of pension and retiral benefits as after petitioner has attained superannuation on 31.1.2011 and his pension and other gratuity amount are to be released. Benefits be accordingly recalculated and revised pension be paid to him within three months from the date of service of the copy of the order. It is clarified that amount of gratuity granted during which the petitioner served elsewhere would be deducted from the gratuity as calculated by the bank.”

7. While deciding the earlier writ petition submitted by the petitioner, this Court treated the services of the petitioner as continuous from 18.09.1972 for the purpose of pension and retiral benefits till attaining the age of superannuation i.e. 31.01.2011 and accordingly a direction was issued to the respondent to [2025:RJ-JP:5285] (4 of 4) [CW-17048/2018] recalculate the retiral benefits of the petitioner and pay the same revised pension to him within a period of three months.

8. It is worthy to note here that no direction was issued by this Court for grant of any interest to the petitioner. However, the respondent was not satisfied with the aforesaid order that is why the order was assailed by them before the Division Bench of this Court by way of filing D.B. Special Appeal (Writ) No.59/2018.

9. It is worthy to note here that the petitioner was satisfied with the aforesaid direction issued by this Court and the order passed by the Single Bench has attained finality. However, the appeal submitted by the respondents was dismissed by the Division Bench vide order dated 17.01.2018 and additional direction was issued to the respondent to make the payment of terminal benefits to the petitioner within a period of 60 days. The respondent was supposed to make the payment of terminal dues to the petitioner on or before 17.03.2018, but without any justified reason, the respondent withheld the terminal benefits till

24.07.2018.

10. In view of above, the writ petition stands disposed of with the direction to the respondent to grant interest @ 9 % with effect from 17.03.2018 till 24.07.2018 to the petitioner. The respondent is also directed to make the payment of aforesaid interest to the petitioner within a period of three months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order.

11. All applications (pending, if any) also stand disposed of. Karan/38 (ANOOP KUMAR DHAND),J