Ram Kishan And Ors vs Delhi Development Authority And Ors

The applicant has filed this OA, seeking the following reliefs:-

“a. issue an order/direction to respondents to transfer their GPF deducted by the respondent No.2 and 3 (erstwhile MCD) for the period from

21.07.1998 till April, 2010 with interest.

b. issue an order/direction to impose exemplary cost on the respondent.

c. and pass such other or further order(s) as may be deemed fit and proper in facts and circumstances of the present case.â€​

The brief facts of the case are that pursuant to the Award dated 12.10.2007 in ID No. 32/02, the applicants had joined services of Delhi

Development Authority (DDA) on 08.02.2011 on the post of work charge regular beldars and they were also entitled to receive their salary from

MCD till this Award is enforceable by the appropriate Government on the basis of the order passed by the Hon’ble Delhi High Court in W.P.(C)

No. 1656-66/2014 dated 09.02.2005. It is further submitted that the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi, vide its order dated 05.04.2011 in the Cont. Case

No. 1567-77/2006, had directed the counsel of MCD to take instructions and if required send the service record of the applicants to DDA so that

salary and other benefits could be released to the applicants. On 13.07.2011, the counsel of the MCD informed the Hon’ble Court that the service

records and last pay records of applicants were sent to the office of the DDA. Thereafter, the applicants were given their salary and are continuously

performing their duty diligently in the DDA. The applicants have alleged that rest of the petitioners in the above referred Writ Petition have already

received their provident funds for the entire period, whereas the applicants herein are yet to receive the GPF amount for the period from 21.7.1998 to

April 2010. Being aggrieved with the inaction of the respondents, the applicants had made several representations dated 23.3.2012, 26.7.2012,

1.4.2015 and 12.6.2015. However, on 21.01.2014, the DDA finally requested the respondent corporation to transfer the GPF account of the applicants

along with interest for the aforesaid period, but the MCD failed to give any response. Finding no response from the MCD, the applicants served the

respondents with a contempt notice on 24.09.2015 and pursuant thereto, the respondent no.1, DDA again requested the respondent Corporation to

transfer the GPF subscription of the applicants along with interest for the period from 1998 till 2010 but to no avail. Aggrieved by the said act of the

respondents, the applicants have filed the present OA.

Counsel for the respondent No.1 (DDA) does not dispute the aforesaid position and stated that pursuant to the notice issued by the Hon’ble

Tribunal, they have once again written to the Executive Engineer (MCD), Narela Zone on 12.10.2017 requesting to transfer the aforementioned PF

amount failing which MCD shall be responsible for any adverse legal consequences as DDA is not at fault as shown from Annexure R/1. They have

further contended that in reply to the aforesaid letter, a reply dated 27.10.2017 was received from the office of North MCD wherein it was intimated

that the matter has already been forwarded to the office of EE(M)-I/Narela Zone for immediate action. However, vide another letter dated

31.10.2017, the North MCD had intimated that the case of applicant no.1 (Sh. Ramesh Kishan) pertains to South MCD and the other three applicants

pertain to North MCD. In the aforesaid letter, it is further stated that the GPF Section, North DMC is only a custodian of the record prior to 2012

which pertains to all three Corporations, viz North DMC, South DMC and East DMC and if any old record required by the GPF Section/SDMC, a

responsible official of the GPF Section/SDMC may be deputed to fetch the same with prior intimation to RK/GPF/North DMC.

Counsel for the respondent no.2 â€" SDMC has submitted that as per records of the SDMC with regard to applicant no.1 of this OA, an amount of

Rs.1,21,000/-was deducted on account of GPF, Rs.2,520/- on account of GIS and Rs.336/- on account of WWF/DRF. Thus the total amount of

Rs.1,23,856/- had been deducted from the applicant no.1 and the same shall be deposited with the respondent no.1 DDA and the DDA may be asked

to provide the details of the account of the applicant no.1 in which the said amount is to be deposited.

Counsel for the respondent no.3, i.e. NDMC has submitted the reply in which they have stated that under the control of Dy. Health Officer, Public

Health Department, Civil Lines Zone, there is no post of Beldar, except 05 posts of Beldar at Cremation Ground Nigam Bodh Ghat and out of 04

Beldars, 3 are working and one post is vacant. The present applicants, namely, Sh. Ram Kishan, Sh. Ram Kanwar, Sh. Surender Pal, Sh. Suresh Pal

and Sh. Shiv Bax had never worked at Nigam Bodh Ghat Cremation Ground as Beldars or under the NDMC.

After hearing both the parties and perusing the record, it becomes clear that the amounts, which were admittedly deducted by the respondent â€

Corporation, towards GPF and GIS from the salary of the applicants from 21.07.1998 till April, 2010 have still not been transferred to DDA. We have

also perused the order dated 12.10.2017 issued by the respondent no.1 - DDA to the MCD in which the respondent no.1 had repeatedly requested the

MCD to transfer the PF along with interest of the applicants herein. But instead of acting promptly, the respondent no.2 â€" SDMC has turned up

with an absurd reply that they are willing to pay the deducted amount to the DDA if the details of the account of the applicant no.1 are provided. This

clearly shows that the fault is on the part of the respondents and they are only shifting responsibilities to one another. Similarly, the reply given by the

NDMC that the applicants herein had never worked under them is not acceptable as they have themselves issued a letter

No.AO/GPF/NDMC/2017/987 dated 31.10.2017 in which they have categorically stated that the first applicant pertains to South DMC and the matter

of other 03 applicants pertain to NDMC. Hence, we do not find any cogent reason in their reply for not releasing the PF amounts of the applicants in

time. Hence, the respondent no.1 is directed to ensure that the PF amounts deducted by the respondent no.2 and 3 for the period from 21.07.1998 till

April, 2010 be deposited in the account of the applicants within a period of 60 days of receipt of a copy of this order. As the PF accounts continuously

continue to earn interest on an annual basis, there is no ground to give any additional interest on delayed payment. However, the respondents are liable

to pay the cost of Rs.5,000/- to the applicants on account of delay caused by them in transferring the PF amounts to the DDA.

With the above directions, the OA stands disposed of.