30th Jan., 2026 Item no.M/L 942 Court No. 18 Pradip, A.R.(Ct.) In the High Court at Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side Case No. WPA 7414 of 2024 In the matter of : Basanti Pahan …. Petitioner VS. The State of West Bengal & Ors. ….Respondents For the Petitioner: Mr. Srikanta Datta Ms. Aditi Chakraborty ….Advocates For the State: Mr. Sayan Ganguly ….Advocate 1. Affidavit of service filed in Court today is taken on record. 2. The husband of the petitioner was an Assistant Teacher of a High School. He died-in-harness on 10.08.2021. The grievance of the petitioner is that the gratuity and arrear pension amount was disbursed in favour of the petitioner only on 27.09.2022. The petitioner claims interest on delayed payment of the gratuity and arrear pension amount. 3. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner and considered the orders passed by this court in similar facts. 4. It is settled law that the right of a retired employee to get his retiral dues on the date of attaining superannuation is a valuable right which accrues in his favour on the date of his attaining superannuation. Further, gratuity and pension are no more considered to be a bounty to be handed out by the State at its whim. An employee has a statutory right to receive gratuity and pension upon retirement. If payment of such gratuity and pension is delayed the retired employee is surely entitled to get some interest for such delayed payment. Page 2 5. In the present case, it was the bounden duty of the State to disburse the gratuity and pension amount on the due date. If it has failed to do so and has released such amount after unexplained delay, it is obliged to pay interest to the heir(s) of the employee. Pension and gratuity are welfare provisions aimed at maintaining the life of a retired employee and his/her dependents. This is compensatory in nature. 6. In view of the aforesaid, I direct the concerned Treasury Officer to pay interest to the heir(s) of the deceased employee at the rate of 5% per annum on the gratuity and arrear pension calculated on and from the due date till the date of actual payment. 7. Such payment is to be made within eight weeks from the date of communication of the certified copy of this order to the concerned authorities. 8. The concerned respondent authority is directed to take appropriate steps in accordance with law against the erring officer(s) for whose fault there has been delay in releasing the terminal benefit to the petitioners. 9. Since no affidavit in opposition has been invited, the allegations contained in the writ petition are deemed not be admitted. 10. The writ petition stands disposed of. 11. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance of all requisite formalities. (Amrita Sinha, J.)