21.07.2026 sayandeep Sl. No. 26 Ct. No. 03 WPA 15464 of 2026 Ratan Dom Vs. The Baidyabati Municipality & Ors. Mr. Partha Sarkar Mr. Abhijit Basu Ms. Megha Sarkar …. for the petitioner Mr. Pratick Chandra Das Ms. Soma Chowdhury Bandhu Mr. Anurag Chatterjee …. for the municipality 1. The instant writ petition has been filed, inter alia, praying for direction upon the respondents to release arrear retiral benefits in the form of balance gratuity amounting to Rs. 7,92,175/- along with statutory interest from the date of retirement, as also arrear pension. 2. The petitioner claims to have joined the Baidyabati Municipality on 1st June, 1992 and had retired from service on 30th November, 2021. In his case, the PPO was issued on 29th May, 2025 whereunder the net retiring gratuity of Rs. 4,62,692/- was determined. The petitioner subsequently, became entitled to the benefit of ROPA, 2019. On the basis of the computation made available to the petitioner by the office of the municipal councilors of Baidyabati municipality dated 24th June, 2025, a sum of Rs. 8,92,175/- was due and payable after giving credit to the amount already disbursed. WPA 15464 of 2026 2 3. To morefully appreciate the computation, the same is extracted hereinbelow: 4. The learned advocate appearing for the municipality would submit that subsequently the petitioner has been disbursed a further sum of Rs. 1,00,000/-. According to him, if three months time is given, the balance amount shall be disbursed. The learned advocate for the petitioner on the other hand while acknowledging receipt of the said sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- would submit that the petitioner is entitled to the balance amount along with interest. 5. Having heard the learned advocates appearing for the respective parties and noting from the submissions made by the parties that a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- had already been disbursed in favour of the petitioner on account of gratuity, I WPA 15464 of 2026 3 am of the view that the balance amount of gratuity should be disbursed to the petitioner within a period of three months from the date of communication of this order. It is well settled that gratuity cannot be held back and is payable immediately on retirement. Admittedly, in this case the entire amount of gratuity is yet to be disbursed. Accordingly, the respondents are directed to make payment of interest at statutory rate that is at the rate of 10% per annum on the amount of gratuity which has remained due from the date when the same was payable till such time the same is actually disbursed. The petitioner must be favoured with the aforesaid amount along with a computation sheet. Insofar as the arrear pension is concerned, the same shall be disbursed in favour of the petitioner within the aforesaid period of three months from the date of communication of this order. The petitioner shall not be entitled to any interest on the ground of benefits made available due to ROPA, 2019. 6. With the above observations and directions, the writ petition is disposed of. (Raja Basu Chowdhury, J.)