HC admonishes agro corporation for withholding retirement benefits

Admonishing Haryana Agro Industries Corporation Limited and the State for apparently displaying insensitivity towards employees and their families, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has held a widow and her family entitled to Rs 1 lakh exemplary costs “in the nature of compensation”.

The ruling came after Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri held that the corporation infringed on the family’s statutory, constitutional and fundamental rights after the deceased employee’s retirement benefits were withheld. “A widow of a deceased employee and the family has been affected by the unlawful conduct of the respondent-corporation,” the court asserted.

Justice Puri observed that the case pertained to the widow and children of a retired mechanic who passed away in 2014. The corporation withheld Rs 1,60,781 from his retirement dues, even though there was no punishment order against the employee. The Bench said the amount, based on a tentative figure in a show-cause notice, could not justify withholding benefits.

"It is not understandable as to how the amount has been withheld…. The conduct of the respondents is not only deprecated by this court, but it appears that the respondents are insensitive towards their own employees and their families," it observed.

Justice Puri asserted retirement benefits were both statutory and constitutional rights under Article 300A, which protected the right to property, and their denial constituted a serious infringement. "It is a settled law by a catena of judgments of Supreme Court that the right to property includes right to pension and retirement benefits. In this way, not only the statutory right but even the constitutional right of the deceased and his family, who are the present petitioners, have been directly infringed by the respondents," the court observed.

Justice Puri further ruled that the respondent's actions infringed upon the petitioners' fundamental rights under Article 21, which guaranteed the right to life, including the right to livelihood. "The present is a case where the right to livelihood of the petitioners has been taken away by the respondent and, therefore, right to life under Article 21 has also been infracted. Not only Article 21 has been infracted qua the deceased, but it has also been infracted qua his entire family who are the petitioners in the present writ petition," it stated.

Allowing the petition, Justice Puri directed the corporation to pay 6 per cent simple interest per annum on the delayed payments. The withheld amount of Rs 1, 60,781, was also directed to be released along with the same interest within three months, failing which the interest rate would increase to 9 per cent.