Q:I was a municipality worker. After retirement seven years ago, I was entitled to gratuity. But the gratuity payable to me for many years was held back and finally, it was paid out this year. Can I claim interest from the date it was meant to be paid?
A Sarkar, Calcutta
A:You are definitely entitled to interest on the amount payable to you from your retirement date. The Supreme Court has repeatedly clarified that pension and gratuity are not mere ?bounty? to be distributed by the government to its employees on retirement, but they comprise valuable rights in the hands of the employees. Any culpable delay in settlement and disbursement of the same must be visited with penalty of payment of interest at the current market rate, the court says. Besides, the Payment of Gratuity Act 1972 itself provides that the employer shall arrange to pay the gratuity within 30 days from the date it is payable. If the amount is not paid by the employer within the period specified, the employer shall pay simple interest on such sum. Thus, payment of interest is a statutory compulsion.
Q:I work in a government organisation. As per our service rules, I was eligible for promotion about five years ago, if I passed a departmental exam. I passed the exam, but I was not promoted as there were adverse remarks in my annual confidential record and as such, a junior colleague was promoted. At that time, my representation against the remarks was pending. It was accepted after five years, and the remarks were deleted and I was promoted. Can I claim the benefits of promotion for the last five years?
Name withheld
A:It seems at the time when the decision was being taken on your promotion, your representation against the remarks made in the report in relation to an earlier period was pending. Inspite of this, it?s surprising that your employer seems to have acted on the basis of such remarks before disposing of your representation. The proper way would have been to dispose of the representation first and then consider the issue of promotion. Now your representation has been accepted and there is no impediment to your promotion. Logically, once the representation recorded in report for the relevant year has been accepted, it is deemed the employer has accepted that the revised remarks stand from the date it was originally recorded. So it was imperative for your employer to consider your claim for promotion with reference to the earlier date, as on that date you would otherwise have had a preferential claim over your junior colleague. As such, you are entitled to the claim with effect from the date your colleague was promoted.
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