03/09 2026 AD/15/18 266312 NANDY (DO) In the High Court at Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side WPA/21834/2026 VIBAKANANDA PAUL VS THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ORS. Ms. Susmita Dey (Basu), Advocate Mr. Kaustav Ghosh, Advocate ……for the Petitioner Mr. N.C. Bihani, Sr. Advocate Mr. Soumyajit Ghosh, Advocate ……for the CSTC 1. Affidavit of service, as filed, be kept with the record. 2. The petitioner is a retired employee of the Calcutta State Transport Corporation. He is aggrieved by the act of the employer in deducting a sum of Rs.54,348/- from his leave encashment and also non-payment of Rs.37,091/- on account of DA Arrear and Increment Arrear. 3. Prayer has been made to direct the respondent authority to refund the aforesaid amount along with interest. 4. Reliance has been placed on the judgment delivered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter State of Punjab & Ors. Vs. Rafiq Masih (White Washer) & Ors. reported in (2015) 4 SCC 334. 5. Reliance has also been placed on the order passed by this Court on 21st May, 2025 in WPA 6364 of 2025 in the matter of Asim Kumar Kundal Vs. The State of West Bengal & Ors. wherein, under similar circumstances, the Court directed refund of the amount deducted along with interest. P a g e | 2 6. Upon hearing the submission made on behalf of the petitioner and the respondent authority it appears that the petitioner retired from service on attaining the age of superannuation on June 30, 2025. He was serving in a Group- ‘C’ post. The amount has been deducted from his terminal dues and he has not been paid his DA Arrear and Increment Arrear. 7. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in Rafiq Masih (supra) clearly laid down that recovery from retired employees is impermissible. 8. The same principle has been followed in the matter of Asim Kumar Kundal (supra). 9. In view of the above, the instant writ petition is disposed of by directing the Managing Director of CSTC to take steps to refund the sum of Rs.54,348/- to the petitioner with simple interest at the rate of six percent per annum on and from the date of deduction till the date of refund at the earliest but positively within a period of eight weeks from the date of communication of this order and the Managing Director is also directed to take steps to pay Rs.37,091/- along with interest at the rate of 6% per annum. 10. The writ petition stands disposed of. 11. Parties to act on the basis of the server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court. 12. Urgent Photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance of all requisite formalities. (Reetobroto Kumar Mitra, J.) P a g e | 3