Authorities must consider delayed retirement-benefit interest claims under the Full Bench ruling, subject to the pending writ.

The applicant, a former consultant in the Eye Department of HRH, challenged the delay in payment of his retirement benefits.

In an earlier OA, the Tribunal had directed that interest would be payable only from three months after receipt of a certified copy of its order. The Delhi High Court set aside that order and remanded the matter, directing interest from the date the benefits became due until actual payment, at the rate indicated in the Tribunal’s Full Bench decision in Rajbir Singh v. Municipal Corporation of Delhi, OA No. 2821/2023.

The applicant sought consideration of his interest claim under Rajbir Singh; the respondents stated that they had challenged that Full Bench decision in a pending writ petition before the High Court.

Whether the applicant’s claim for interest on delayed retirement benefits should be considered in light of the Full Bench decision in Rajbir Singh, subject to the outcome of the respondents’ pending writ petition.

Whether the Tribunal should determine the merits of the applicant’s entitlement to interest in this proceeding.

The Tribunal relied on the Full Bench decision in Rajbir Singh, which held that delayed payment of pensionary benefits attracts interest at the applicable GPF rates, computed on a compound-interest basis.

It also made the consideration of the applicant’s claim subject to the outcome of the respondents’ pending challenge to that decision before the Delhi High Court.

Given the applicant’s request for consideration under Rajbir Singh and the respondents’ submission that the decision was under challenge, the Tribunal declined to decide the merits of the interest claim.

Instead, it directed the competent authority to examine the claim under Rajbir Singh, subject to the result of the pending writ petition, and to issue a reasoned and speaking order.

The Tribunal expressed no opinion on the merits and made no order as to costs.