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Judgment
P.N. Ravindran, J.—The petitioner, who was a sweeper in the service of the Corporation of Cochin, retired from service on 30.11.2011 on attaining the age of superannuation. This writ petition is filed aggrieved by the delay in disbursement of terminal benefits. When the writ petition came up for hearing today, the learned counsel appearing for the Cochin Corporation submitted that the Corporation will pay the terminal benefits to the petitioner within three months from today and that the amount standing to the credit of the petitioner in her provident fund account has been disbursed.
The petitioner was a low paid employee in the service of the Cochin Corporation. More than an year has passed after the petitioner had retired from service. It is now well settled by a series of decisions of the Apex Court that pension is not a bounty but a valuable right of the employee. It is not in dispute that the petitioner has not so far been paid pension though it has been sanctioned as also the commuted value of pension, gratuity, pay revision benefits and also the arrears of dearness allowance which was not credited in the provident fund account. Having regard to the fact that more than an year has passed after the petitioner retired from service and no proceedings is pending to recover any amount from the petitioner towards loss caused to the Corporation or the Government, I dispose of the writ petition with the following directions:-
(i) The Cochin Corporation shall within one month from today pay to the petitioner, the arrears of pension.
(ii) The commuted value of pension and death-cum-retirement gratuity shall be paid to the petitioner on or before 31.3.2013.
(iii) The petitioner''s claim for pay revision benefits and arrears of dearness allowance which has not been credited in the provident fund account shall be paid on or before 30.6.2013.
(iv) It is clarified that if the death-cum-retirement gratuity is not disbursed on or before 31.3.2013, the petitioner will be entitled to interest at the rate of 7.5% per annum from 1.1.2012 till the date of payment of the death cum retirement gratuity.