Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC-LKO:45003 Court No. - 4 Case :- WRIT - A No. - 8622 of 2025 Petitioner :- Sri Atam Prakash Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Chief Secy. Govt. Of U.P. Lok Bhawan U.P. Lko. And 6 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Pravin Kumar Verma Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Rajeeva Kumar Sinha Hon'ble Abdul Moin,J. 1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel for respondents no.1 and 2, and Sri Rajeev Kumar Sinha, learned counsel appearing for respondents no.3 to 7. 2. With the consent of learned counsels for the parties, the writ petition is being decided finally. 3. The petitioner claims to have retired on 31.12.2020 from the post of Peon yet has not been paid his entire gratuity and leave encashment and hence the petition for payment of the aforesaid amount along with interest. 4. On the other hand, Sri Rajeev Kumar Sinha, learned counsel for respondents no.3 to 7, states that on account of financial crunch with which the Corporation is seized it has not been found feasible to pay the entire amount of gratuity and leave encashment to the petitioner although an amount of Rs.1,50,000/- towards gratuity has already been paid to the petitioner. 5. Once the petitioner has already retired from service more than four and half years back i.e. on 31.12.2020 and was also a Class IV employee consequently there cannot be any occasion for the respondents to not pay the retiral dues on the ground of financial crunch as is being indicated by them. 6. Whether the ground of financial crunch can be considered to be a valid ground for non-payment of retiral dues has already engaged the attention of this Court in Writ-A No.7811 of 2024 in re: Shiv Nath Singh & 2 others vs. State of U.P. and 2 others, as affirmed by the Division Bench of this Court in Special Appeal Defective No.208 of 2025 in re: U.P. Jal Nigam (Urban) and another vs. Shiv Nath Singh and others, wherein this Court has held that financial crunch cannot be a valid ground for non-payment of retiral dues. 7. Keeping in view the aforesaid, the writ petition is allowed. The respondent Corporation is directed to pay the entire amount of gratuity to the petitioner after deducting the amount already paid. Let the amount be paid within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. 8. The petitioner would also be entitled for interest on the aforesaid delayed payment which interest would be payable at the rate of 7% per annum from the date the aforesaid amount became due till its actual payment considering the law laid down by this Court in Writ A No. 2075 of 2023 in re: Ashok Kumar Shukla versus Union of India and others decided vide judgment and order dated 3rd March, 2023 and was upheld in Special Appeal (Defective) No. 72 of 2024 vide judgment and order dated 6th February, 2024 as well as by Hon'ble Supreme Court in S.L.P. No. 7939 of 2024 decided vide judgment and order dated 8th April, 2024. Order Date :- 4.8.2025 A. Katiyar Digitally signed by :- AMIT KATIYAR High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench