Court No. - 5
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 14707 of 2020 Petitioner :- Sudha Gupta Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 5 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Hitesh Pachori Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Saral Srivastava,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Standing Counsel for the State-respondents.
The petitioner by means of the present writ petition has prayed for following principal reliefs:-
"(i) issue a writ order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the concern respondent authority to release the payment of interest of retiral dues provided to her in delay as well as also provide the payment of salary for the period 1-1-2018 to 15-1-2018 with due interest to the applicant which is still pending before the department.
(ii) issue a writ order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the concern respondent authority to decide the representation of the petitioner dated 14-9-2019 in accordance with law in favour of the petitioner without making any delay."
According to the petitioner, she has retired from the post of BHW (female) ANM on 31.12.2017 from Medical College, Jhansi and her retiral dues has been paid in August 2019.
The petitioner claims that she is entitled to the interest for delay in payment of retiral dues. In the aforesaid backdrop, she prays that the respondents be directed to pay interest on the delayed payment of retiral dues to the petitioner.
Learned Standing Counsel contended that it is not in dispute that the petitioner has not been paid retiral dues. The petitioner is only claiming interest on the delayed payment of her retiral dues. Therefore, the dispute revolves around the issue as to whether who is negligent for delay in payment of retiral dues and this question can very well be decided on the basis of facts and evidence on record. Therefore, the dispute is basically factual in nature cannot be adjudicated by this Court in exercise of jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
Be that as it may, the petitioner has not disputed the fact that the entire retiral dues has been paid to her and she is only claiming interest on the delayed payment of retiral dues. The petitioner is entitled to the payment of interest only on the condition that the delay in payment has occurred on account of negligence and slackness of the respondents. This issue can be decided only on the basis of facts and evidence on record and thus the dispute involves adjudication of disputed question of fact which cannot be decided in the writ petition and the appropriate remedy to the petitioner is to file civil suit claiming interest.
Accordingly, the writ petition lacks merit and is dismissed. Order Date :- 7.1.2021 Jaswant