1 2025:CGHC:50537 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPS No. 7776 of 2019 1 - Yatendra Kumar Tamrakar (Dead And Deleted) As Per Court Order Dated 19-09-2025 Through Lrs- 1.1 - Anita Tamrakar W/o Late Yatendra Kumar Tamrakar Aged About 62 Years R/o A/27, Karamchari Nagar,sikola Bhata, Durg, Distt. Durg, Chhattisgarh. 1.2 - Vishwas Tamrakar S/o Late Yatendra Kumar Tamrakar Aged About 40 Years R/o A/27, Karamchari Nagar,sikola Bhata, Durg, Distt. Durg, Chhattisgarh. 1.3 - Vishwanath Tamrakar S/o Late Yatendra Kumar Tamrakar Aged About 38 Years R/o A/27, Karamchari Nagar,sikola Bhata, Durg, Distt. Durg, Chhattisgarh. 1.4 - Vishal Tamrakar S/o Late Yatendra Kumar Tamrakar Aged About 35 Years R/o A/27, Karamchari Nagar,sikola Bhata, Durg, Distt. Durg, Chhattisgarh. 2 - Khedan Singh Rajput (Dead And Deleted) As Per Court Order Dated 19-09-2025 Through Lrs- 2.1 - Sukriti Bai W/o Late Khedan Sing Rajput Aged About 65 Years R/o Ward No. 42, Subhash Nagar, Mitan Chowk, Durg, Distt. Durg, Chhattisgarh. Digitally signed by AJAY KUMAR DWIVEDI DN: cn=AJAY KUMAR DWIVEDI, ou=HIGH COURT, o=HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, st=Chhattisgarh, c=IN Date: 2025.10.10 16:11:08 +0530 2 2.2 - Mohnish Chandra Singh Rajput S/o Late Khedan Singh Rajput Aged About 46 Years R/o Ward No. 42, Subhash Nagar, Mitan Chowk, Durg, Distt. Durg, Chhattisgarh. 2.3 - Garima Singh Rajput W/o Late Tilak Singh Rajput, S/o Khedan Singh Rajput Aged About 36 Years R/o Ward No. 42, Subhash Nagar, Mitan Chowk, Durg, Distt. Durg, Chhattisgarh. 2.4 - Digvijay Singh Rajput S/o Late Khedan Singh Rajput Aged About 35 Years R/o Ward No. 42, Subhash Nagar, Mitan Chowk, Durg, Distt. Durg, Chhattisgarh. 2.5 - Smt. Soniya Singh Thakur D/o Khedan Singh Rajput Aged About 38 Years R/o Village Raweli, Bajrang Chowk, P.O. Parsada, Abhanpur, Distt. Raipur, Chhattisgarh. 3 - Vishanu Prasad Chandrakar S/o Late Shri Bhuwan Lal Chandrakar Aged About 65 Years Ex-Branch Manager Zila Sahkari Kendriya Bank Maryadit Durg Tahsil And District Durg Chhattisgarh. 4 - Bahadur Singh Yadav S/o Late Shri Barati Lal Yadav Aged About 65 Years Ex- upervisor Zila Sahkari Kendriya Bank Maryadit Durg Tahsil And District Durg Chhattisgarh. ... Petitioners. Versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Principal Secretary Co-Operative Societies Department Government Of Chhattisgarh Mahanadi Bhawan Naya Raipur Chhattisgarh. 2 - The Registrar Co-Operative Societies Block 2nd And 3rd Floor Indrawati Bhawan Naya Raipur Tahsil And District Raipur Chhattisgarh. 3 - The Chief Executive Officer Zila Sahkari Kendriya Bank Maryadit Durg Tahsil and District Durg Chhattisgarh. ... Respondents. (Cause title downloaded from CIS Periphery) 3 For Petitioners : Ms. Sunita Jain, Advocate. For Res No.1 &2 : Mr. Rajeev Bharat, Govt. Advocate. For Res No.3 : Mr. Maneesh Upadhyay, Advocate. SB : Hon'ble Shri Justice Deepak Kumar Tiwari Order on Board 10.10.2025 1. This Petition has been filed for a direction to respondent No.3/Bank to pay interest on the belated payment of gratuity. 2. It is pertinent to mention here that Petitioner No.1 - Yatendra Kumar Tamrakar and Petitioner No.2 - Khedan Singh Rajput died during the pendency of this petition and their legal heirs have been brought on record. 3. This is the second round of litigation. Earlier the petitioners have filed batch of writ petitions i.e. WPS No.4092/20181, WPS No.4157/2018, WPS No.4096/2018 and 4160/2018 on the ground that gratuity amount has been paid less to the petitioners though they had retired from the services way-back in the year 2015 and 2016, respectively and that they had given fixed amount of gratuity to the tune of Rs.1.70 Lac each and proper calculation has not been made. The Co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 06.05.2019 allowed the aforesaid batch of writ petitions and directed respondent No.3/Bank to recalculate the gratuity amount payable to the petitioners and pay the amount in accordance with the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 (for short the "Gratuity Act"). 1 Yatendra Kumar Tamrakar Vs. State of CG and Ors and connected matters decided on 06.05.2019 (High Court of CG) 4 4. After the aforesaid direction, though the gratuity amount has been paid, however, no interest has been added in the arrears which has been paid belatedly to the petitioners. Hence, the petitioners preferred this petition. 5. Learned counsel for respondent No.3/Bank would not oppose the fact that gratuity amount has been paid belatedly after passing of the order passed by this Court in WPS No.4092/2018 and connected matters. However, he submits that in the earlier round of litigation no order with respect to the interest part has been passed. 6. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. 7. Section 7 of the Gratuity Act deals with determination of the amount of gratuity. Section 7 (3) stipulates that the employer shall arrange to pay the amount of gratuity to whom the gratuity is payable and Section 7 (3A) of the Act deals with interest part on the payment of gratuity. The relevant provisions of Section 7 of the Gratuity Act are reproduced hereunder for ready reference:- "Section: 7 -Determination of the amount of gratuity. (1) *** *** (2) *** *** (3) The employer shall arrange to pay the amount of gratuity within thirty days from the date it becomes payable to the person to whom the gratuity is payable. (3A) If the amount of gratuity payable under sub-section (3) is not paid by the employer 5 within the period specified in sub-section (3), the employer shall pay, from the date on which the gratuity becomes payable to the date on which it is paid, simple interest at such rate, not exceeding the rate notified by the Central Government from time to time for repayment of long-term deposits, as that Government may, by notification specify: Provided that no such interest shall be payable if the delay in the payment is due to the fault of the employee and the employer has obtained permission in writing from the controlling authority for the delayed payment on this ground." 8. In the present case, it is admitted fact that there was no fault on the part of the petitioners/retired employees for such belated payment as the Authorities themselves have wrongly calculated the gratuity on the date of superannuation of the petitioners and only fixed gratuity amount was paid to the petitioners which was not proper. 9. Recently, in the matter of Gagan Bihari Prusty Vs. Paradip Port Trust & Ors (SLP (C) No.4468/2022) decided by the Hon'ble Supreme Court on 03.03.2025, the High Court was awarded interest @ 6% per annum with respect to the gratuity of the petitioner therein, however, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has enhanced the same @ 10% per annum. 10. In view of the above and considering the entire fact situation of the case, this Court finds it appropriate to award the interest in respect of the gratuity. Hence, it is directed that respondent No.3 shall pay interest on the gratuity payment @ 10% per annum to 6 the petitioners from the 30th day of retirement till the date of actual payment, only in respect of the gratuity amount which was ordered to pay in terms of order dated 06.05.2019 passed in WPS No.4092/2018 and connected matters. 11. The aforesaid interest amount shall be paid to the petitioners within a period of 8 weeks of this order. 12. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is allowed to the extent indicated above. Sd/- (Deepak Kumar Tiwari) Judge Ajay