Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh high court has held that financial constraints or non-receipt of adequate govt funds cannot be cited as grounds to deny former employees their legitimate retiral benefits, observing that timely payment of terminal dues is an inherent concept of service jurisprudence and advances a pensioner’s right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.The observation was made by a bench headed by Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua while disposing of a batch of 21 petitions filed by retired employees of Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, who had approached the court seeking release of their pending leave encashment.Directing the university to release the due and admissible leave encashment to the petitioners within four weeks, the court fixed Nov 4 as the deadline. It further ordered that in case of failure to make the payment within the stipulated period, the amount would carry interest at 5% per annum from the actual date on which the payment became due.The court underlined that the petitioners had earned the right to leave encashment through their long service and that the entitlement accrued upon superannuation.The university was aware of their retirement dates and should have made timely arrangements to discharge its financial liabilities. “University has not even given any time frame for defraying its legal obligation. The petitioners cannot be expected to wait for eternity for release of their remaining retiral benefits,” emphasised the court.The petitioners had contended that despite having retired in 2024, they were still awaiting payment of leave encashment that had accrued to them at the time of their superannuation.The university placed on record a “Proposed Tangible Roadmap” concerning the mechanism for payment of gratuity and leave encashment to its employees. The document acknowledged that the university had been facing financial difficulties for several years due to inadequate internal resources, increased committed liabilities and higher establishment expenditure.According to the roadmap, available resources were being primarily utilised for unavoidable recurring liabilities, including salaries, pensions, electricity and water charges, fuel expenses, statutory dues and other essential operational expenditure.The roadmap also acknowledged outstanding liabilities towards leave encashment and gratuity payable to retired employees. It specifically recorded that leave encashment had not been released to employees who retired from May 1, 2024 onwards. The court noted that some of the petitioners had retired even before that date and had been awaiting their dues for more than two years and that paucity of funds was no ground for withholding amounts legally due to employees, particularly terminal benefits payable to retired persons.
