Chandigarh: Punjab and Haryana high court has slammed Haryana Agro Industries Corporation for a seven-year delay in releasing the retirement benefits of a deceased employee to his family, calling the act a violation of statutory, constitutional, and fundamental rights. A fine of Rs 1 lakh goes with this, to be paid by the state-govt-linked company initially and recovered from the officer responsible after fixing accountability.
In this case that sparks a debate over workers’ rights and govt accountability, the bench led by justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri also directed the corporation to pay 6% annual interest on the delayed payments and release more than Rs 1.6 lakh that the company had withheld wrongfully. The bench observed: “Grant of pension and retiral benefits is not charity but a duty. The corporation’s actions infringe the right to livelihood and life under Article 21 of the Constitution and reflect insensitivity toward its employees and their families.”
The ruling comes in response to a plea by Manjit Kaur and her children, who sought redress after the corporation withheld the retirement dues of Surinder Singh Chawla, Manjit’s late husband. Chawla, a mechanic, retired on Apr 30, 2011, but received no benefits due to an unresolved charge sheet alleging a loss of Rs 67,380. Yes, a subsequent inquiry supported the allegations, but the competent authority escalated the penalty, proposing a recovery of Rs 1,60,781 with interest and stoppage of two annual increments.
The HC had stayed this recovery previously during Chawla’s lifetime. However, following his death in 2014, the corporation withheld all retirement benefits, releasing them only seven years later while deducting the disputed amount. The court criticised the corporation for failing to release the undisputed portion of the benefits, stating that such conduct deprived the petitioners of their rightful dues.
Chawla’s family had sought directions to quash a letter dated July 24, 2017, by which the corporation had withheld his retiral benefits. From these benefits that the petitioners received seven years after Chawla’s death, the company had deducted Rs 1.6 lakh, and when it should have at least released the remaining amount, it withheld the entire sum without justification.