Uma Shanker Prasad Vs. The State of Jharkhand and Ors - Court Judgment

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI Cont. Case (Civil) No. 116 of 2015 with Cont. Case (Civil) No. 179 of 2015 Jagdish Chaubey & ors ….... Petitioners ( Cont.Case Civil No.116 of 2015) Uma Shanker Prasad ….... Petitioner ( Cont.Case Civil No.179 of 2015) Vrs.

1. The State of Jharkhand 2. Mr. Ajay Kumar Singh, Secretary, Urban Development Department, Jharkhand 3. Mr. Mukesh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner cum Chairman, Hazaribag Mines Board 4. Mr. Krishna Prasad Saw, Secretary, Hazaribag Mines Board 5. Chief Executive Officer, Hazaribag Municipal Corporation, Hazaribag .... Opposite Parties(both cases) ….... CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE APARESH KUMAR SINGH For the Petitioners : M/s Manoj Tandon, Amit Kr. Tiwari & : M/s Shambhu Nath Tiwari, Arvind Kr. Choudhary For the Opposite Parties : Mr. Dhananjay Kumar Dubey, Sr.S.C.I (State) : Mr. Ranjit Kumar (Hazaribag Municipal Corporation) 13/28.07.2017 The order under offence passed in the writ petition is dated 19.11.2014. The undertakings given by the Respondent- Urban Development Department during the pendency of the writ petitions was also recorded in the final order dated 19.11.2014, some of which are required to be quoted here under once again:- “According to the respondents, in view of sub - section 6(a) of Section 615 of 2011 Act, the respondent - Department is undertaking the exercise for verification of service records of the Mines Board employees and at the same time it is undertaking another exercise to determine the assets and liabilities of the Mines Board, which are to be borne by the respective Urban Local Bodies in which the Hazaribagh Mines Board has vested”. Certain statement made at para 7 to 9 in the counter affidavit filed on 12.11.2014 were also reproduced in the said order dated 19.11.2014. Para 9 of the said counter affidavit is also being quoted hereunder:- “Para 9:- That it appears from the abovesaid facts, the absorption of employees of Hazaribagh Mines Board and payment of retiral dues of the existing and retired employees is under active consideration and after necessary formalities steps will be taken for payment”. The operating portion of the order dated 19.11.2014 is also being quoted hereunder as the concerned opposite parties seem to have have forgotten the import of the order despite pendency of the instant contempt petition.:- “With the hope and trust that the issue now no longer remains litigated, the writ petition is being disposed of with a direction to the respondents to take a final decision in the matter and make payments of admissible retiral dues to the retired employees of the Hazaribagh Mines Board within a period of 3 months. -2- Needless to say that the respondents would devise a proper means and procedure for disbursement of admissible post retirement dues to the retired employees. Both the writ petitions are accordingly, disposed of. All the pending I.A.s are also stand disposed of”. During pendency of the contempt petition on 11.7.2016 the opposite party, Urban Development Department, Government of Jharkhand filed a show cause where under at para 7 and 8 it was stated that the Deputy Commissioner, Hazaribag was directed through letter no. 2833 dated 24.5.2016 to undertake the exercise of preparation of list of such employees and assess their admissible dues so that payments of retiral benefit might be done by the concerned Urban Local Bodies. On 25.1.2017 again the opposite party of the Department filed their show cause, which enclosed the reply of the Deputy Commissioner, Hazaribag in compliance of the directions contained in letter no. 2833 dated 24.5.2016 vide letter no. 3234 dated 21.9.2016 enclosing the chart containing the arrears in respect of retired employees of the Hazaribag Mines Board(Annexure-C series). The Deputy Commissioner, Hazaribag in fact assessed the amount due as Rs.10,72,92,665/- in respect of the outstanding post retirement dues of 141 retired employees. Apart from that the outstanding dues of 44 serving employees was assessed as Rs. 4,22,94,100/-. On 17.3.2017 the opposite parties were directed to file a comprehensive show cause containing the details of the head and the source of revenue from which such payments have to be made either by the Department itself or through such Local Bodies. Thereafter a show cause was filed by the Opposite Party no.2 indicating payment of certain amounts to two petitioners, which was taken note of in the order dated 28.4.2017. They however had failed to disclose the mode of payment to all the similarly situated employees including the petitioners. On the request of learned counsel for the opposite parties the matter was adjourned for 4 weeks in order to bring on record a proper scheme for release of such payments, which would cover cases of such similarly situated employees. The opposite parties were also required to ensure payment to other similarly situated persons. Thereafter the matter was taken on 7.7.2017. The Court was constrained to make certain observation. The Chief Executive Officer, Hazaribag Municipal Corporation was also impleaded as opposite party no.5 in both the petitions. Learned counsel for the opposite parties State had taken pains to inform that despite correspondences made, further instructions have not been furnished. He prayed for some more time . In such -3- circumstances the matter was adjourned for today to enable the opposite parties to file a clear affidavit showing compliance containing the proper scheme of release of admissible dues, source/ head from which it has to be paid and the date of commencement of at least first installment, failing which Court would be constrained to call the concerned opposite party to appear on the next date. A show cause has been filed today. In the aforesaid background, it is being conveyed to the Court today that the Department has once again written letter no. 4297 dated 7.7.2017 to the Deputy Commissioner, Hazaribag to constitute a committee for calculation, assessment and recommendation about the admissible retiral dues of the employees of Hazaribag Mines Board and to submit work plan relating to payment of retiral dues. They have also enclosed letter dated 24.7.2017 bearing no. 2586 from the Deputy Commissioner, Hazaribag where he has sought for 14 days more time for calculation of retiral dues of 141 employees of the Board and submit a report. The newly added opposite party no.5 has also filed a separate show cause. They have also sought for 6 weeks time to calculate the admissible dues of the retired employees of the Mines Board. There is a purpose for recording the chronology of events in the history of the litigation right from the stage of the writ petition till the present day. A mere perusal of the narrative would show how serious are the concerned opposite parties in the matter of compliance of the order under offence. In the whole process, the plight of the retired employees including the petitioners of Hazaribag Mines Board seems to have been forgotten by the concerned opposite parties of the Urban Development Department and the District Authorities / Municipal Authorities of the Hazaribag Municipal Corporation. Therefore this Court is constrained to observe that in case the compliance is not shown within a period of 6 weeks, on the next date opposite parties shall have to show cause as to why proceedings for contempt be not initiated against them. Further, in case of non-compliance of the order by the next date, Opposite Party no. 2, 3 and 5 or their successor in office shall have to remain present in the Court. List both the cases accordingly on 8.9.2017 as unfixed case. (Aparesh Kumar Singh, J.) A.Mohanty