Shachindra Nath Bhatt v. State of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Dairy Development Deptt. Lko and 2 Others

Court No. - 7 Case :- WRIT - A No. - 9186 of 2023 Petitioner :- Shachindra Nath Bhatt Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Dairy Development Deptt. Lko And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Pradeep Kumar Tripathi Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Shanker Lal Hon'ble Abdul Moin,J.

¶1Heard learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel for respondent no.1, and Sri Lalit Shukla, Advocate, who files Vakalatnama on behalf of respondents no. 2 and 3, which is taken on record.

¶2The contention of learned counsel for the petitioner is that despite the petitioner having retired on attaining the age of superannuation on 30.06.2022, the leave encashment has still not been paid on the pretext of pendency of audit objections of the year 2016-2017.

¶3Reliance has been placed on various orders passed by this Court to contend that mere pendency of audit objection cannot be considered to be a valid ground for withholding of leave encashment.

¶4There is no statutory provision shown at the bar entitling respondents to withhold the leave encashment benefit.

¶5Considering the fact that there is no statutory powers vested with the respondents to withhold the payment of leave encashment benefits, the action of the respondents in withholding the benefits is clearly arbitrary and contrary to mandate of Article 300A of the Constitution of India.

¶6The writ petition is allowed.

¶7Respondents are directed to pay the leave encashment benefits to the petitioner alongwith interest at the rate of 7% per annum from the date of retirement till actual payment/realisation within three months. Order Date :- 30.11.2023 A. Katiyar High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench