Ashok Parihar, J. - (1.) Counsel for the petitioner submits that only relief which survives is in regard to interest on the retiral benefits.
(2.) It may be noted here that in pursuance to a judgment of this Court, the State Government has it self issued a Circular No. F.15(3)FD (Rules)/97 dated 24.2.2001 by which detailed guidelines/instructions have been issued as to under what circumstances the interest on the delayed payment of retiral benefits is to be paid to the concerned employees. The relevant part of the Circular is reproduced here as under : 'The Rajasthan Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1996 has already provided for the procedure and the calendar for sanction and authorisation of Pension and Gratuity to retired employees. Rule 80 of the said Rules very clearly provides that every Head of Office shall undertake the work of preparation of pension papers in Form 7 two years before the date on which a Government servant is due to retire on superannuation, or on the date on which he proceeds on leave preparatory to retirement whichever is earlier. The Rules further spell out the various stages for completion of the Pension papers. These Rules also provide that the Head of Office shall forward to the Director, Pension Department, Rajasthan Form, 5 and 7 duly completed with a covering letter in Form 8 along with Service Book of the Government servant duly completed, upto date, and any other document relied upon for the verification of the service. This must be done by the Head of Office not later than 6 months before the date of retirement of the Government servant. Once this is done in time, it will become duty of the Director, Pension Department to ensure that all formalities are completed and necessary orders issued before the date of superannuation of the employee. The matter has been considered by the Government in the light of the orders of the Hon'ble High Court mentioned above and in addition to the procedure already laid down under the Rajasthan Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1996, the following guidelines are further issued for strict compliance : 1. Because of the reason that the retirement date is already determined, the Department concerned should take all necessary steps to collect the required papers either from the Pensioner or from the Office so as to complete all the formalities by the date, the Pensioner is to retire. 2. To calculate all the retiral benefits including the pension and to pay the same either on the same day or sanction the same when the pensioner retires or immediately thereafter, but by all means within 60 days of the date of retirement. 3. If the retiral benefits are not sanctioned/paid even after expiry of 60 days from the date of retirement invariably, unless there are exceptional circumstances to act otherwise, the pensioner shall be entitled to the interest at the rate of 12% p.a. from the due date till actual payment is made. 4. The Competent Authority shall fix the liability for the delay caused in sanctioning the retiral benefits and, if it is found that the delay for sanctioning the retiral benefits has been caused by the Erring Official, the same shall be recovered from that official but so far the Pensioner is concerned, he would be paid the retiral benefits alongwith the interest, if the same is paid after 60 days of retirement. Efforts should be made to minimise filing number of cases by the Pensioners to avoid the unavoidable litigation. 5. Invariably it is Administrative Office who should be held responsible for completing the formalities and if once the formalities have been completed, the Pension Department shall proceed forthwith to complete its own obligations for getting the retiral benefits released. In case any delay is caused in the Pension Department of the State of Rajasthan, responsibility should be fixed for such delay and suitable action be taken against such Erring Officials. 6. Where any 'No Dues Certificate' is required, it shall be the responsibility of the concerned Authority in the Office after verifying the record to issue such "No Dues Certificate" to the official concerned for the reason that all the service record including the detail of any advance payment on any count whatsoever and the last pay drawn particulars are already with the Department. 7. Where retirement had been sought by issuing a notice for voluntary retirement, in that situation all effort be made to complete the papers during the notice period before the employee is relieved or in any case within 60 days of the date of voluntary retirement and in case the retirement is sought without any notice, the formalities of calculating the retiral benefits would be completed within the same period, i.e. 60 days from the date of retirement and shall ensure the interest at the rate of 12% p.a., if the retiral benefits are delayed after 60 days on the date of retirement. For the above purpose, the following procedure may further be adopted : (a) In terms of the aforesaid judgment, a retiring employee would be entitled to receive simple interest @ 12% per annum for the period of delay in the authorisation of his retiral benefits. (b) In case of delay in authorisation of Pension and Gratuity beyond 60 days from the date of retirement, the Director, Pension shall also authorise payment of interest @ 12% per annum alongwith the other retiral benefits to the employee. (c) The Director, Pension shall send copies of Authority for payment of interest issued in favour of the Pensioner to the Office from which the Pensioner retired, the Appointing authority, and the Administrative Secretary concerned for holding preliminary enquiry to ascertain the officer(s)/Official(s) prima facie responsible for causing the delay. Thereafter, the concerned Officer shall initiate disciplinary action against the delinquent employee(s) under the CCA Rules and recover the amount of interest paid for the delay on the part of the such employee(s) from the concerned employee(s)."
(3.) It has further been expected from all the Authorities to ensure strict compliance of the procedure, instructions and calendar prescribed for the purpose under the Rajasthan Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1996 and also the above guidelines and procedure.;