NEW DELHI, Feb 19 : The Supreme Court has pulled up the West Bengal government for not paying retirement dues to a man for 18 years and said it had filed a “frivolous” plea while imposing costs of Rs 10 lakh.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed a plea filed by the state government against an order of the Calcutta High Court.
“We dismiss these petitions filed by the state of West Bengal on the ground of delay as well as on merits and also impose costs of Rs 10 lakh, to be paid to the respondent within four weeks from today,” the bench said.
The bench observed it considered the case on merits despite the plea being filed with a “substantial delay of 391 days” and no satisfactory explanation was given by the state.
“Upon perusal, we find that this is a completely frivolous and vexatious petition filed by the state of West Bengal challenging the order of the high court…,” the bench said in an order on February 14.
The high court had quashed the disciplinary proceedings against the man, who retired in 2007, and directed the release of all the dues to him.
The bench observed it was “unfortunate” that the dues were still not paid to the man and he only received a provisional pension even after 18 years of his retirement.
The top court ordered that all the pending dues should be paid within four weeks.
It came on record that a disciplinary enquiry was conducted against the man, but he was exonerated in 1994.
A showcause notice however was issued in 1997 proposing punishment against him, disagreeing with the finding of the enquiry officer at the instance of vigilance department.
The man tendered his reply to the showcause notice in 1997, the bench said, and no further action was taken on the notice.
“However, 13 years later, after the retirement of the respondent in the year 2007, and three years thereafter in the year 2010, a second showcause notice was issued on June 22, 2010 for the same cause for which disciplinary proceedings were earlier initiated in 1989 and show cause notice was issued in 1997,” said the bench. (PTI)
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