09.07.2026 Ct. No. 30 S.L. No. 10 SM WPA 15149 of 2026 Byash Chowdhury Versus The State of West Bengal & Ors. Mr. Uddipan Banerjee Mr. Subhrakanti Samanta …….for the petitioner Mrs. Soma Chakraborty Mr. Kaustav Seal ……for the State Mr. G. Pandey ……for the private respondents 1. Affidavit-of-service filed be kept with the record. 2. The writ application has been preferred praying for direction upon the respondent No. 3 to dispose the Memorandum of Appeal being No GA- 03/2024 by directing the respondent no. 2 to dispose of the gratuity case being No G-21/ 2022 within a short period of time preferably within 2 months in accordance with law. 3. During the pendency of the writ application, an order dated 03.07.2026 has been passed by the appellate authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act in the Gratuity Case referred to in the present writ application. The appellate authority on hearing the appeal preferred by the private respondent herein that they were aggrieved by not being given an opportunity of hearing in respect of the application for restoration passed the following order:- 2 “The matter was heard and it is clear from record that the application was initially dismissed and there after it was restored. But it is also not evident from record that the petition for restoration was at all heard in presence of both the parties. It appears that no opportunity was provided to the appellant employer while deciding the petition for restoration by the respondent. On the other hand, appeal can be preferred only in case of any order by the controlling authority as per section 7(4) of the said act and this order is just an interim order for final determination of the claimed gratuity. Hence it appears that this appeal is a premature one. It is clear that the petition of restoration was not heard by providing opportunity to the appellant. Hence the controlling authority is with the liberty to redecide the matter regarding earlier order dated 05.12.2023 by the then controlling authority. The controlling authority shall hear the prayer dated 11.12.2023 for restoration/ reconsideration/ review of the order of the controlling authority dismissing the application in Form N as it was dismissed due to absence of the respondent employee and he shall hear this by providing opportunities of being heard to both the parties and take necessary action for further processing. Either of the parties can approach the 3 controlling authority concerned to proceed with this matter.” Sd/- Appellate Authority Under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, Chandannagar, Hooghly 4. Considering the said facts and on hearing the parties, the writ application is disposed of with the direction that in view of the order of the appellate authority, the Controlling Authority is directed to act as directed by the Appellate Authority in its order dated 03.07.2026 and hear the restoration application in presence of the respective parties and decide the same in accordance with law. 5. Writ application stands disposed of. 6. Applications, if any, connected thereto stand disposed of consequently. 7. Interim order, if any, stands vacated. 8. Photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be given to the parties on priority basis upon compliance of all formalities. [Shampa Dutt (Paul). J]