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Dr. A. Selvaraj vs. C.B.M. College & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 264Decided 4 Mar 2022
Civil Appeal No. 1698 of 2022
M.R. Shah · B.V. Nagarathna

Background

The appellant, a retired Associate Professor of Chemistry at an aided college in Coimbatore, faced a long delay in receiving his retirement dues after retiring in 2011. Although his terminal benefits were eventually paid during the pendency of his writ petition, the question of interest on the delayed payment, and who should bear responsibility for the delay, remained unresolved through a single judge's order, a Division Bench appeal, and a government enquiry that blamed the college's former Secretary, who was too unwell to respond to the enquiry.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that since the delay was in no way the retired employee's fault, he was entitled to interest on the delayed payment regardless of the unresolved dispute between the college management, the former Secretary, and the government over who was actually responsible for causing the delay. It directed the College/Management/Trustees to pay the interest within six weeks, while leaving them free to later recover that amount from whoever the government's final enquiry decision holds responsible. The Court emphasised that an employee should not be made to suffer for an administrative blame-game that isn't of his making.

Lesson Learnt

When institutions or officials cannot agree among themselves about who caused a delay in paying a retiree's dues, the retired employee should not be left waiting: the institution must pay the interest first and sort out internal responsibility afterward.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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