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Judgment
THIS is an appeal by the complainant whose complaint petition has been dismissed by the District Forum, Khurda dated 11.5.1998. Initially the Forum dismissed the complaint case on the ground of maintainability. The complainant moved the State Commission on appeal. It was remanded for fresh disposal according to merit. The District Forum by a reasoning order dismissed the case on merit.
ON hearing the complainant, we find him advancing two grievances, (i) that though his services were terminated with effect from 25.11.1989 whereafter he seized to be a subscriber of P.F. and though he had been infact received amount of Rs. 95,705/- towards the P.F. refund paid to him on 27.10.1990, he was not furnished with the accounts for the period from 6.9.1988 till 25.11.1989, i.e., during the period of suspension. Secondly that they did not pay any interest for the months of May and June, 1990. During the course of the arguments the complainant has drawn our attention to the Xerox copies of the rules and regulations of the Care India Employees Provident Fund Scheme. We have gone through the Clause 9 of the Regulation and same we quote as follows : "(a) Interest received or accrued on the various investments along with interest received on borrowings from this Provident Fund for the year ending March 31 of each year will be apportioned and credited to members'' contribution accounts annually as on the 31st March each year at the rate and in the matter so determined by the Trustees, whose decision in the matter shall be final.
In case of newly participating members and outgoing members who cease to be member of this fund, interest will be allowed only for the full number of calendar months during which their balances are held by the fund. Broken periods of less than a calender month will not be counted for the purpose of allowing interest."
On hearing the Counsel and on going through the impugned order, we find in fact as per the regulation he is entitled to the interest upto 30th June, 1990 and the District Forum has committed an error in not accepting the case of the complainant to that extent. The complainant has no more grievance so far the period from 6.9.1988 till 25.11.1989 is concerned. It is admitted during the course of the arguments that he has been paid the amount including interest for that period. In the result, we allow this appeal, set aside the order of the District Forum and direct the Department to calculate the interest on the total amount for the months of May and June, 1990 and disburse the amount within a period of three months from the date of communication of the order. Since we find the complainant pursued his remedy for the mistake of the Authority, we award Rs. 5,000/- as costs to be paid by the O.Ps. This should also be paid within that period. The appeal is allowed with costs. Appeal allowed.