UMESH KUMAR SINGH vs EAST CENTRAL RAILWAY on 12 November 2026

1. The Union of India through the General Manager, East Central Railway, Hajipur, Post- Digghi Kalan, PS- Hajipur, District- Vaishali at Hajipur- 844101 (Bihar).

2. The Divisional Railway Manager, East Central Railway, Sonpur, District- Saran- 841101 (Bihar).

3. The Senior Divisional Personnel Officer, East Central Railway, Sonpur, District- Saran- 841101 (Bihar).

4. The Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, East Central Railway, Sonpur, District- Saran- 841101 (Bihar).

5. The Senior Divisional Finance Manager, East Central Railway, Sonpur, District- Saran- 841101 (Bihar).

........ Respondents

For The Applicant(s): Mr. M. P. Dixit, Counsel

For The Respondent(s): Mr. Kumar Sachin, ASC

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Sonali Lal

O R D E R (ORAL) Per : Kumar Rajesh Chandra, Administrative Member

1. Learned Counsel for the parties are present. With the consent of both the parties, this matter is being heard finally at the admission stage itself.

2. The applicant has approached this Tribunal under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 praying for the following relief: “8.1 That your Lordships may graciously be pleased to hold and declare the impugned action of respondents in withholding the balance amount of DCRG amounting to Rs. 530010/- even for any disclosed reason as unjust, illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional, against Rules and also without any justifiable reason even in absence of any show cause notice/ adverse order in this regard. 8.2 That your Lordships may graciously be pleased to direct/ command the respondents to pay/ release the withheld amount of DCRG amounting to Rs. 530010/- along with 18% interest without any delay. 8.3 Any other relief or reliefs including the cost of the proceeding to the tune of Rs. 200000/- lacs may be allowed in favour of the applicant which may be recovered from the erring officials.”

3. Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the relief sought by the applicant in paragraph 8.1 of the OA has already been granted by the respondents, as is evident from Annexure R/2 appended to the short reply filed by them. Accordingly, the said relief no longer survives for adjudication and has been rendered infructuous. However, learned counsel for the applicant presses the relief claimed in paragraph 8.2 of the OA, contending that, since the

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Sonali Lal delay in release of the withheld DCRG amount was not attributable to the applicant, he is entitled to interest thereon in terms of Rule 87 of the Railway Services (Pension) Rules, 1993.

4. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondents has opposed the claim for payment of interest by drawing the attention of the Bench to paragraph 10 of the short reply, wherein the respondents have admitted that there was some delay in the final release of the withheld DCRG amount of Rs. 5,30,000/-. However, they have explained that the delay was neither deliberate nor intentional but occurred due to administrative reasons. It has been submitted that, since the mismatch in the lifted station cash amount involved substantial Government money and had occurred on several dates over a period of two years, a detailed cross-checking and verification of the station records with the records of the concerned Bank was considered necessary and accordingly undertaken. On this basis, the respondents have sought to justify the delay on account of the administrative exercise undertaken by them.

5. Learned Counsel for the applicant has reiterated Rule 87 of the Railway Service (Pension) Rules, 1993 , which reads as follows:- “1. If the payment of gratuity has been authorised after three months from the date when its payment became due on superannuation and it is clearly established that the delay in payment was attributable to administrative lapse, interest at such rate as may be specified from time to time by the Central Government in this behalf on the amount of gratuity in respect of the period

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Sonali Lal beyond three months shall be paid. Provided that the delay in the payment was not caused on account of failure on the part of the railway servant to comply with the procedure laid down in this Chapter.

2. Every case of delayed payment of gratuity shall be considered by the General Manager or Administrative Head of the Railway Unit, as the case may be, and where the said General Manager or Administrative Head is satisfied that the delay in the payment of gratuity was caused on account of administrative lapse, he shall order for arranging the payment of interest. The powers to pass order for payment of interest on delayed payment of death- cum-retirement gratuity shall rest with General Manager or Administrative Head of the Railway Unit and shall not be delegated to any lower authority. ……………………”

6. Having considered the rival submissions and perused the materials available on record, it is evident that the respondents themselves have admitted in paragraph 10 of their short reply that the delay in releasing the withheld DCRG amount was occasioned by administrative reasons. There is no averment or material on record to suggest that the said delay was attributable to any act or omission on the part of the applicant. The administrative reasons cited by the respondents may explain the circumstances in which the delay occurred; however, in the absence of any fault attributable to the applicant, such reasons cannot, by themselves, disentitle him to interest, if admissible under the applicable statutory provisions.

7. In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, the claim of the applicant for interest on the delayed payment of DCRG deserves consideration in terms of Rule 87 of the Railway Services

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Sonali Lal

(Pension) Rules, 1993. Accordingly, the OA is allowed in the following terms:

(i) The relief sought by the applicant in paragraph 8.1 of the OA has already been granted by the respondents and, therefore, stands rendered infructuous.

(ii) The respondent authorities are directed to calculate and pay admissible interest on the delayed release of the withheld DCRG amount of Rs. 5,30,000/-, strictly in accordance with the applicable provisions of Rule 87 of the Railway Services (Pension) Rules, 1993, within a period of 60 days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.

8. The OA stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms. There shall be no order as to costs.

Sd/-

Sd/- (Kumar Rajesh Chandra) (Justice Narendra Kr. Johari) Administrative Member

Judicial Member

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Sonali Lal