Seeking Advice: Can We Claim Interest and Compensation for Unfair Dismissal by PSU?

Hello everyone, My father was working as a Division Engineer at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited, a public sector undertaking, in 1996 when he was suspended from his job. After two years, in 1998, he was dismissed from the same position, and his gratuity was forfeited. In response, he filed a writ petition in the high court. In April 2012, the court issued a judgment stating that the dismissal was a grave injustice and against natural justice. The court quashed the dismissal, along with the forfeiture of gratuity, and directed the PSU to pay consequential benefits to my mother as his widow within three months from the judgment. This was due to my father's death in 2003 during the pendency of the writ petition.

Initially, the company paid the salary revisional arrears and the gratuity. We submitted an application to the PSU requesting the list of consequential benefits, but they ignored our request and delayed, claiming they were still calculating the amounts. However, after submitting RTI applications to obtain details, the PSU subsequently paid the employee provident fund and leave encashment. Despite this, they have not shared any documents related to the pending benefits. Currently, we are in the second appeal at the CIC, and we are awaiting the outcome.

I am curious to know what interest on consequential benefits we are entitled to receive. Additionally, can we file another case against the PSU for monetary compensation due to the unfair dismissal that was overturned by the court judgment? The defamation resulting from this situation has impacted both my father and our family socially, emotionally, and financially. I would appreciate it if you could provide specific information on this matter.

Regards

Legal Recourse for Unpaid Arrears and Damages

From the facts as mentioned by you, it appears that the concerned department has not filed any appeal in the higher court against the judgment of the honorable High Court, which decided the issue in favor of your late respected father.

If so, I suggest that you first obtain all the arrears/benefits from the said department. More than two years have passed since the honorable High Court's judgment, and the department has not yet paid all the arrears to the dependents, as you mentioned. You can file a contempt petition in the High Court (through the advocate who represented your father) against the responsible officer of the department that has not complied with the court order.

After receiving all the arrears, you or the dependents can consider filing a damages case for the wrongful dismissal of your father from the services. Obtaining damages in India can be challenging. However, I recommend including the officers responsible for the wrongful decision in the proposed damages case. Consult with the advocate who successfully represented your father in the High Court, as they are familiar with all the case details and can provide you with valuable advice.

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I have corrected the spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors in the text and rearranged the content into proper paragraphs. Let me know if you need further assistance.

Regards

Dear Mr. Mehta, I apologize for not mentioning earlier that the concerned PSU had made an appeal in the double bench of the High Court where it lost again. The PSU then appealed against the judgment to the Supreme Court of India, where the case was disposed of in favor of my mother.

As my father passed away in 2003, shouldn't the PSU pay interest on delayed benefits such as gratuity, salary revisional arrears, employee provident fund, etc.? Additionally, it is not providing us with the family pension arrears along with interest and its continuation to date. I have already written to the Public Grievance Section of the Pension and Pensioners' Welfare Department of the Government of India. Could someone kindly mention the rate of statutory interest on the delayed payment of gratuity, EPF, pension arrears, and salary revisional arrears for which I would be grateful.

Regards,
Jaideep Paul

Judgments and Orders Compliance

In such cases, the judgments or orders issued by the Honorable Supreme Court or High Court often specify the time period within which the orders are to be complied with, as well as the rate of interest, if any, to be paid for any delayed payment of arrears. In my opinion, please check whether there is any order from the Honorable Supreme Court or High Court in their respective judgments.

RTI and Legal Action

In my opinion, RTI will not help you further because the department will simply say that the matter is under consideration. I have already suggested contacting your standing advocate who won the cases at the above courts and requesting him to take appropriate action for the payment of balance retirement benefits by the department. If considered appropriate, your standing counsel can issue a show-cause notice to the department for contempt of court for not paying the dues as may have been indicated in the judgments, if any.

Relevant Case Link

Further, an online link to one of the cases is mentioned below, which I think may be of some interest to you in this case:

Rajendran T.G. vs State Of Kerala Represented By The on 17 August, 2011

We are living in a free India!!! Please file a contempt petition through your learned advocate. The orders from the High Courts and Supreme Courts are favorable. Make sure to include the details of the person opposing your claim by providing their name, home, and office addresses. Additionally, claim interest at 18% along with damages to compensate and mitigate the losses.

Regards,
RDS Yadav

You can ask your advocate to file an application with the Supreme Court for the execution of its order (which is in your favor) with immediate effect. Do not waste your time with the RTI process, as it won't be helpful in providing a solution to your problem.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts with me. The court's judgment has quashed the dismissal of my father and instructed GRSE to pay consequential benefits to my mother. Nowhere in the judgment does it mention any rate of interest on the financial benefits, but I have heard from other employees and through online research that any delay in the payment of EPF, gratuity, and salary revision arrears attracts the statutory rate of interest mentioned by the Government of India. Could anyone kindly mention the rate of interest for the same? I would be grateful.

Getting into another judicial action is what we want to keep as a last option because we want to create pressure on the PSU so that it extends the interest on benefits, which legally they are bound to provide. Then, damages and other interests will follow up after that. Otherwise, the PSU will get another excuse to delay all payments, saying the matter is sub judice.

Regards,
Jaideep

Thank you all for the valuable information. After almost 16 years of legal battle, it is really tough for us to get into another one. But we have reserved the possibility as a last option. Till then, we want to get all consequential benefits by requesting other authorities such as PMO as well as RTI CIC.

Query on Interest for Consequential Benefits

I just have one query, and that is, in a case where a person is exonerated from all charges and his dismissal quashed, should we not get any interest which should have been paid on his death in 2003 but is being paid after 10 years from then? If he is eligible for interest, what is the rate of interest on gratuity, EPF, salary revisional arrears, family pension, etc.? Kindly specify if possible.

Thank you.

Interest Rate on Consequential Benefits

By the rate of interest, I mean the rate of simple interest or compound interest on the delayed span of 10+ years and the best possible option to achieve the same.

Labour Laws do not provide any interest due to delay, even in cases of victimization. But as you have to follow judicial recourse, I hope it's the last resort. Please raise and plead for interest, justify your demand for interest by showing unexpected behaviors and contempt on PSU as well as individuals. Contempt of court verdicts, non-compliance for so many years, and the judgments are, in fact, grounds which should be calling for interest to equate the justice. Your advocate knows this part, so leave this to him.

Regards,
RDS Yadav
MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT AND TRAINER