IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA, BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 17TH DAY OF DECEMBER, 2019 BEFORE THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KRISHNA S.DIXIT WRIT PETITION NOS. *28608-28617 OF 2014 (S-R) BETWEEN:
1. B G SRINIVASA S/O B.T.GOVINDAPPA, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, RETIRED ASSISTANT, MESCOM, SHIMOGA, PIN-577411.
2. H.CHANDRASHEKARAPPA, S/O H.BASAPPA, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, RETIRED ASSISTANT, EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, MRS DIVISION, SHIMOGA-577411.
3. M.KALINGAPPA, S/O HALE SIDDAPPA, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, RETIRED SENIOR ASSISTANT, MESCOM, SHIMOGA-577411.
4. M.H.CHANDRASHEKARAPPA, S/O BASAVANNAPPA, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, RETIRED JUNIOR ASSISTANT, M.R.S.DIVISION, SHIMOGA-577411.
SINCE DEAD REP. BY LRs.
a) SMT. SAROJAMMA, W/O M H CHANDRASHEKHARAPPA, AGED ABOUT 54 YEARS, b) HEMALATHA, D/O M H CHANDRASHEKHARAPPA, AGED ABOUT 41 YEARS, *Corrected Vide Chamber Order Dated 27.12.2019.
BOTH ARE RESIDING AT: NO.233, SRI SAI NILAYA, RAILWAY PARALLEL LINE, 1ST CROSS, VINOBHANAGARA, SHIVAMOGGA.
AMENDED V.C.O DATED 17.06.2019.
5. M.B.SHIVANNAGOWDA, S/O B.BASAPPA, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, RETIRED JUNIOR ENGINEER, M.R.S.DIVISION, SHIMOGA-577411.
6. K.MAHESWARAPPA, S/O MAHADEVAPPA, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, RETIRED SENIOR ASSISTANT, M.R.S.DIVISION, SHIMOGA-577411.
7. M.BASAVARAJAPPA, S/O HANUMANTHAPPA, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, RETIRED CONTROL OF ACCOUNTS, SESCOM, MYSORE-570001.
8. G.M.PADMANABHA NAIK, S/O G.MUNISWAMY NAIK, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, RETIRED ASSISTANT, BESCOM, SOUTH DIVISION, BANGALORE-560082.
9. MANJUNATHA, S/O KESHAVA, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, RETIRED ASSISTANT, BESCOM, WEST DIVISION, BANGALORE-560011.
10. C.S.DEVAKUMAR, S/O C.SAMPATHAIAH, AGED ABOUT 65 YEARS, RETIRED JUNIOR ENGINEER, BESCOM, SOUTH DIVISION, BANGALORE-560011.
... PETITIONERS (BY SRI. M RAGHAVENDRA ACHAR, ADVOCATE) AND:
THE GENERAL MANAGER, A AND HRD, NOW REDESIGNATED AS DIRECTOR KPTCL, CAUVERY BHAVAN, BANGALORE-560 009. ... RESPONDENT (BY SRI. HARIKRISHNA S HOLLA, ADVOCATE) THESE WRIT PETITIONS ARE FILED UNDER ARTICLES 226 AND 227 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA PRAYING TO DIRECT THE RESPONDENT TO PAY THE INTEREST AT THE RATE OF 18% PER ANNUM TO THE AMOUNT OF THE PETITIONERS MENTIONED IN THE PRAYER FROM THE DATE OF RETIREMENT TILL THE AMOUNT PAID ACTUALLY.
THESE PETITIONS COMING ON FOR PRELIMINARY HEARING IN ‘B’ GROUP THIS DAY, THE COURT MADE THE FOLLOWING:-
O R D E R Petitioners being the pensioners who had received the commuted value of pension, recoverable within a period of fifteen years had suffered a one-time lump sum recovery at the hands of the respondent out of the amount payable to them because of revision of pay scales and consequent upward revision of pension.
2. In the above situation some of similarly circumstanced pensioners had laid a challenge for such a lump sum recovery by filing W.P.Nos.8046-8069/2009 (S- R) and a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide judgment dated 11.08.2009, a copy whereof is at Annexure-A favoured the challenge and resultantly held such a recovery bad; a direction was issued for considering pensioners representation for reimbursement of the said amount within four weeks.
3. In terms of the law declared by this Court as above, the amounts recovered from the petitioners came to be paid back to them on varying dates; however, no interest was paid during the period the same was retained by the respondent; aggrieved thereby, the petitioners have presented these writ petitions.
4. After service of notice, the respondent having entered appearance through its panel counsel has filed Statement of Objections dated 27.02.2018 resisting the writ petitions contending that there is no legal obligation to pay the interest and that the claim for interest is barred by limitation.
5. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and having perused the petition papers, this Court is of the considered opinion that relief is to be granted to the poor petitioners because:
(a) the pension payable to the retirees is the consideration for the past service rendered by them during the tenure of employment; the Apex Court in the case of D.S.NAKARA vs. UNION OF INDIA, (1983) 1 SCC 305 has held that, pension is not a bounty; the pensioners commute their pension in order to have a lump sum at their hands immediately after retirement and the said amount is repayable within a period of fifteen years in equivalized monthly installments; the respondent having retained the benefit of pay/pension revision for some period have reimbursed the petitioners belatedly; thus there is temporary appropriation of the amount of the poor petitioners; this amounts to temporary acquisition of petitioners property without compensation and therefore falls foul of Article 300-A of the Constitution of India;
(b) it is a settled principle of law that any person who retains the money of others sans any right of such retention is liable to pay not only the money so retained, but some reasonable interest thereon; had the amount instead of being retained been paid to the petitioners at the earliest point of time, they would have made use of the same by making investment thereof either in the form of Bank Deposit or the like where it would have earned regular interest; that being so the respondent being an instrumentality of the State under Article 12 of the Constitution of India, is liable to pay some reasonable interest on the amounts so retained during the period of such retention.
(c) the contention of the respondent that there is delay & laches attributable to the petitioners at the earliest point of time and therefore the claim for interest on the retained money is factually incorrect and legally untenable; the period of limitation for recovering money is three years; no limitation is prescribed by the Constitution for invoking the writ jurisdiction; delay & laches per se cannot defeat a citizens claim founded on the violation of Constitutional Rights, namely Article 300-A; therefore, the respondent is liable to pay interest at the rate of 7% per annum.
In the above circumstances, these writ petitions succeed; a Writ of Mandamus issues to the respondent to pay interest at the rate of 7% per annum to be reckoned from the date when the said amount was payable and till it was so paid, within a period of eight weeks; if the interest amount is not paid within the said period, then the rate of interest would be 10.5% per annum instead of 7%.
Now, no costs.
Sd/- JUDGE Snb/