The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday reiterated that the issue as to whether terminal benefits can be released to the incumbent depended on verification of community certificate by the State-level Scrutiny Committee.
Justice R. Mahadevan dismissed the case of a petitioner, who had sought sanction of pension, including commutation, gratuity, earned leave encashment and other savings, along with an interest of 12% per annum. Though the petitioner had sought the benefits, the court took cognisance of the fact that he had failed to cooperate with the authorities for community certificate verification.
The petitioner, B. Ravindran of Madurai, attained superannuation in 2017 after serving as Development Officer (Administration) with United India Insurance Company. He claimed that he belonged to Scheduled Tribe and possessed a community certificate to prove it. He had refused to accept the summons issued by the District-Level Scrutiny Committee for verification of the community certificate.
The case of the petitioner was that his terminal benefits were not sanctioned on the ground that the State-Level Scrutiny Committee had not verified his community certificate. He claimed that the State-Level Scrutiny Committee, the competent authority, had not summoned him for verification.
It was argued that on an employee attaining superannuation, it was mandatory for the employer to release the terminal benefits immediately. Only in case of pending disciplinary proceedings or criminal case could the benefits be withheld.
Under such circumstances, in the counter filed by the petitioner’s employer, it was said that the petitioner had misled the company by producing a false community certificate at the time of employment and he did not belong to the ST. However, the petitioner maintained that his certificate was genuine.
The court, taking note of the submissions, observed that the petitioner was not prepared to get the genuineness of his community certificate proved. When this was the case, the relief sought could not be entertained. The court said that it was left to the petitioner to get his certificate verified by the State-Level Scrutiny Committee and await the outcome of the verification for deciding the disbursement of terminal benefits.
