Meghalaya High Court: A Single judge bench comprising of Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, CJ. while dealing with a civil writ petition filed by a retired employee ruled that delay in release of retrial benefits cannot be justified on grounds on a financial crunch.
Brief background of the matter was that the petitioner worked as a driver in the respondent corporation. Though he had retired from service on 31-12-2017, his retrial benefits had not been released to him. Aggrieved by inaction on the part of respondent, he filed the instant writ petition. The respondent corporation pleaded that the retrial benefits had not been released since it was facing acute financial crisis and thus its resources were not enough to meet the petitioner’s demand.
The court dismissed the contention forwarded on behalf of the respondent holding that an employee has a vested right of getting retrial benefits on retirement and the release of such benefit cannot be linked with the financial health of the employer. It is for the employer to mobilize his resources to ensure that the retired employee gets his retrial benefits.
In the present case, the respondent – corporation could not be permitted to delay the benefits due to petitioner and thereby subject him to misery, mental agony and financial hardship. It was further stated that it is not only the petitioner but his entire family who were suffering in such a situation. As such, a guaranteed right to retrial benefits could not be delayed pleading financial crunch of the employer. On the aforesaid holding, the court High Court directed the respondent to ensure that all retrial benefits that the petitioner was entitled to, be sanctioned and released in his favour within two months. [Phlester Swer v. Meghalaya Transport Corporation,2018 SCC OnLine Megh 180, decided on 01-10-2018]
