Chennai: Madras high court has reiterated that community certificate of an employee can be scrutinised even after the employee has retired and that such verification is not barred merely because the certificate or appointment dates back to before 1995.“The law is settled that protecting service benefits merely because the employee has attained superannuation is akin to allowing the thief to retain stolen property and perpetrating constitutional fraud,” Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy said citing a judgment passed by a full bench of the court. “As such, the matter is no longer res integra (untouched),” the judge added.The court made the observations while dismissing two petitions moved by A Jegannathan who was appointed as a Mazdoor at the Chennai Port Trust and retired as a section superintendent in 2013. The appoint was made on the basis of a Scheduled Tribe community certificate issued to the petitioner in 1980.On retirement, in view of pending proceedings relating to the verification of his community certificate, the petitioner was granted only a provisional pension, and the full pension, gratuity, and all other terminal benefits payable to the petitioner were withheld prompting him to approach the court.Refusing any relief, the court pointed out that the vigilance report and independent verification reports of all the authorities, on the basis of the overwhelming positive evidence, had been shown that the petitioner did not fall under Schedule Tribe category.“The petitioner started his line of litigation from 1985 and successfully stalled the obvious till 2021, and the same can no longer be permitted. It is a settled legal position that the principles of natural justice are not a straitjacket formula and will depend on the facts and circumstances of the case, and fraud is an anathema to the principle,” the court said.
