Case pendency no bar on paying unutilized leave encashment of retired govt staff | Bhubaneswar News
Cuttack: Orissa high court has held that an employee’s unutilized leave encashment claim on retirement from govt service cannot be rejected on the ground of pendency of a vigilance case and disciplinary proceeding against him.
The ruling was given while considering the case of an Odisha Transport Engineering Service (OTES) cadre officer who retired from service as inspector, motor vehicles, on April 30, 2024.
On retirement, he approached the department authorities to claim his dues in lieu of unutilized leave encashment. But the authorities rejected his claim on July 16, 2024 on the grounds that vigilance case and disciplinary proceedings were pending against him. He challenged the decision in high court on Aug 20, 2024.
In his March 6 judgment, which was uploaded on March 12, Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra said, “On a careful analysis of the factual background of the present case along with close scrutiny of the legal provisions governing the field of sanction and disbursement of retiral benefits including cash equivalent of unutilized leave salary, this court observes that there is no statutory provision either in the shape of an enactment or rules prohibiting payment of such amount to the employee who is found to be involved in a judicial proceeding or a disciplinary proceeding by the time he retires from government service.”
Considering the legal as well as factual position, Justice Mohapatra ruled that the transport department’s order “is unsustainable in the eye of law”.
Accordingly, the court quashed the order and directed the transport department authorities to calculate the cash equivalent of the unutilized leave encashment for a period of 300 days, “and the same be sanctioned and disbursed in favour of the petitioner within a period of two months from the date of communication of a copy of this judgment,” Justice Mohapatra ordered.
The ruling was given while considering the case of an Odisha Transport Engineering Service (OTES) cadre officer who retired from service as inspector, motor vehicles, on April 30, 2024.
On retirement, he approached the department authorities to claim his dues in lieu of unutilized leave encashment. But the authorities rejected his claim on July 16, 2024 on the grounds that vigilance case and disciplinary proceedings were pending against him. He challenged the decision in high court on Aug 20, 2024.
In his March 6 judgment, which was uploaded on March 12, Justice Aditya Kumar Mohapatra said, “On a careful analysis of the factual background of the present case along with close scrutiny of the legal provisions governing the field of sanction and disbursement of retiral benefits including cash equivalent of unutilized leave salary, this court observes that there is no statutory provision either in the shape of an enactment or rules prohibiting payment of such amount to the employee who is found to be involved in a judicial proceeding or a disciplinary proceeding by the time he retires from government service.”
Considering the legal as well as factual position, Justice Mohapatra ruled that the transport department’s order “is unsustainable in the eye of law”.
Accordingly, the court quashed the order and directed the transport department authorities to calculate the cash equivalent of the unutilized leave encashment for a period of 300 days, “and the same be sanctioned and disbursed in favour of the petitioner within a period of two months from the date of communication of a copy of this judgment,” Justice Mohapatra ordered.
