Rajasthan High Court Directs State To Release Retiral Benefits Of Retired Audit Inspector Who Died Fighting For Pension, Imposes Cost

The Rajasthan High Court has ordered the release of retiral benefits to the legal representatives of a retired Audit Inspector from the Cooperative Department who died in between of his years-long battle with the State over withheld pension.

A bench comprising Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand noted that the deceased had a clean service record and yet his pension was withheld citing delay in obtaining his records from one of the departments where he had once served.

"Retiral dues of an employee like the petitioner cannot be allowed to withhold because the documents were not received by any department from the other department. The respondents cannot be allowed to take shelter that the delay was caused by any authority in not sending the required file and paper of the petitioner, such action on the part of the respondent/authority is unfounded and virtually arbitrary, illegal and contrary to law," the bench held.

It also imposed a cost of Rs.50,000/- to be paid to the widow of the deceased.

The petitioner (since deceased) had retired in January 2018. The court said more than half a decade had passed and yet the respondent-authorities were sitting on his retiral benefits, without any valid reason. There were no pending departmental inquiries or criminal cases against the petitioner.

Court reminded the authorities that pension and gratuity are not bounty. These are benefits earned by employees by dint of continuous, unblemished service and such act of the State arbitrarily withholding pension is liable to be deprecated, it said. Reliance was placed on Supreme Court's decision in Deokinandan Prasad V. State of Bihar (1971).

Based on these considerations the court ordered release of all retiral benefits with interest within 30 days and also imposed a cost of Rs. 50,000 on the State, payable to the petitioner's kin.

Case Title: Dayachand Arya Vs State of Rajasthan.

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