HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD LUCKNOW WRIT - A No. - 2066 of 2025 Court No. - 4 HON'BLE ABDUL MOIN, J. 1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri D. C. Pathak, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel for the respondents no. 1 to 4. 2. With the consent of learned counsels appearing for the contesting parties, the writ petition is finally being decided. 3. The contention of learned counsel for the petitioner is that despite the petitioner having retired on attaining the age of superannuation on 31.12.2020 while working as Gram Vikas Adhikari he has still not been paid his retiral dues i.e. pension, gratuity and other allowances till date. 4. This Court vide order dated 19.2.2025 had required learned Standing Counsel to seek instructions as to why the pension and other retiral dues have not been paid to the petitioner. 5. Today Shri D. C. Pathak, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel for the State on the basis of instructions sent by the Block Development Officer dated 15.2.2025 states that a show cause notice had been issued to the petitioner on 22.7.2024, a copy of which is annexure 1 to the writ petition, for recovery of an amount of Rs 2,59,341.5/- and the petitioner has failed to submit any reply thereto. Earlier too vide notice dated 13.10.2021 the petitioner had been issued a notice for recovery of Rs 4 lakhs and odds to which the petitioner has still not submitted reply and consequently it has been decided to not pay any retiral dues to him. 6. Responding learned counsel for the petitioner gives a legal argument Versus Counsel for Petitioner(s) : Ashwini Kumar Ojha, Nirmala Yadav Counsel for Respondent(s) : C.S.C. Shishir Kumar Srivastava .....Petitioner(s) State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Deptt. Lko. And 3 Others .....Respondent(s) that considering the provisions of Civil Service Rules 351-A it is only where departmental or criminal proceedings are pending against the employee at the time of his retirement can the respondents be at a liberty to only give provisional pension and withhold gratuity. In the instant case it is not that any departmental or criminal proceedings is pending against the petitioner at the time of his retirement i.e. on 31.12.2020 and thus merely because the respondents have issued show cause notices for recovering of certain amount the same cannot tantamount to be an act as covered under the provisions of Civil Service Rules 351-A in order to enable the respondents to withhold pension, gratuity and other retiral dues. 7. Having heard learned counsel for the parties and having perused the record it emerges that after the petitioner retired on attaining the age of superannuation on 31.12.2020 while working on the post of Gram Vikas Adhikari the respondents have failed to pay pension, gratuity and other retiral dues. 8. The reasons as emerge for non payment are said to be issuance of two show cause notices to the petitioner for recovering certain amount. However the said notices cannot be considered to be a valid ground for withholding of pension and other retiral dues of the petitioner in as much as Civil Service Rules 351-A specifically provides that it is his Excellency the Governor who has reserved to himself the right of withholding or withdrawing pension or any part of it whether permanently or for a specified period and the right of ordering the recovery, pension of the whole or any part of the pecuniary loss caused to the Government if the pensioner is found in departmental or judicial proceedings to have been guilty of grave misconduct or to have caused pecuniary loss. 9. The proviso to Civil Service Rules 351-A also provides that departmental proceedings shall be deemed to have been instituted when charges are framed against the pensioner or if the officer has been placed under suspension from an earlier date and the judicial proceedings shall be deemed to have been instituted in the case of a criminal proceedings on the date on which complaint is made or chargesheet is submitted in a criminal court. 10. None of the conditions as enumerated in the Civil Service Rules 351- WRIA No. 2066 of 2025 2 A are attracted in the facts of the instant case in as much as it is not the case of the respondents that there were any departmental proceedings pending against the petitioner at the time of the retirement or the petitioner has been placed under suspension prior to his retirement or there was any criminal case pending against him consequently keeping in view specific provisions of Civil Service Rules 351-A it is apparent that the respondents have patently erred in law in not paying pension and other retiral dues of the petitioner. 11. Merely because show cause notices are being issued to the petitioner the law will take its own course so far as said show cause notices are concerned but by no stretch of imagination on the basis of said show cause notices more particularly when the conditions as indicated in Civil Service Rules 351-A are not attracted in the instant case the respondents thus cannot withhold pension and other retiral dues of the petitioner. 12. Keeping in view the aforesaid discussion, the writ petition is allowed. A writ of mandamus is issued commanding the respondents to pay entire retiral dues of the petitioner including pension, gratuity and other dues as withheld by respondents which would be paid within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. 13. While making payment of dues the respondents shall also consider payment of interest at admissible rates for delayed payment of pension and other retiral dues to the petitioner. September 11, 2025 J. K. Dinkar WRIA No. 2066 of 2025 3 (Abdul Moin,J.) Digitally signed by :- JESHU KUMAR DINKAR High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench