25 22.07.2026 sb Ct.3. IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION APPELLATE SIDE WPA 3164 of 2026 Susanta Ghosh Versus The Champdany Municipality & Ors. Mr. Partha Sarkar Mr. Abhijit Basu Ms. Megha Sarkar … For the petitioner. Mr. Ayan Banerjee Mr. Dhiman Banerjee … For the municipality. 1. Affidavit of service filed in Court is taken on record. 2. The instant writ petition has been filed, inter alia, praying for a direction upon the respondents for disbursal of the retiral benefits. 3. The petitioner claims to be an employee of Champdany Municipality and had retired from service on 29th February, 2024 on attaining the age of superannuation in terms of Section 58(1) of the West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993 (hereinafter referred to as the “said Act”). 4. Mr. Sarkar, learned advocate representing the petitioner has drawn attention of this Court to the Pension Payment Order (PPO) and would submit that the respondents have already issued PPO on 13th March, 2 WPA 3164 of 2026 2024. According to him, apart from payment of Rs.40,000/- no further payment has been made. He insists for disbursal of the outstanding gratuity amount to the extent of Rs.6,56,960/- after giving credit to the payment of Rs.40,000/- on account of gratuity and the arrear pension. 5. Mr. Banerjee, learned advocate appears on behalf of the municipality. He submits that a sum of Rs.40,000/- has already been disbursed. 6. Having heard the learned advocates appearing for the respective parties and noting that in terms of the PPO a sum of Rs.6,96,960/- has been determined on account of retiring gratuity, I am of the view that the gratuity cannot be unnecessarily held back without a just cause contrary to the provisions of Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. Accordingly I direct the municipality to make payment of the outstanding amount on account of gratuity after giving credit to the payment (s) already made in favour of the petitioner along with interest computed at the rate of 7 per cent per annum from the date when the same became due till the same is actually paid. The municipality is also directed to disburse the arrear pension and the regular pension. 7. Insofar as the payment of balance gratuity is concerned the same shall be disbursed on an expeditious basis but not later than eight weeks from the date of communication of this order. 3 WPA 3164 of 2026 8. With the above observations and directions the writ petition is disposed of. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for be given to the parties upon compliance with the requisite formalities. (Raja Basu Chowdhury, J.)