The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has directed the payment of gratuity along with interest to a retired professor. Justice Manish Mathur, presiding over a Single Bench, granted the petition of Professor Syed Shafeeque Ahmad Ashrafi, who had challenged Clause 4(1) of the Government Order issued on June 22, 2018, as well as the rejection communication dated December 2, 2024.
The retired professor had sought the payment of gratuity with interest from the date of his superannuation until the actual payment, in accordance with the Court’s order dated October 1, 2024, and a related order from the Supreme Court dated April 30, 2024.
The Court observed that the issue in question had previously been addressed in a judgment related to the University College Retired Teachers Welfare Association case. Although the Government Orders involved were different, they pertained to the same issue: the denial of gratuity to teachers who continued in service beyond the prescribed age of superannuation.
The Government Orders in question stipulated that gratuity would only be granted to teachers who retired at the age of 58, with the provisions of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, applying to them. Teachers who continued until the age of 60 were denied gratuity benefits, purportedly because they had opted for two additional years of service.
After examining the case, the Court found the order passed on October 1, 2024, to be applicable to the present case, even though the dispute involved an extension of retirement age from 60 to 62 years. The petitioner, who had served as a lecturer and professor at St. John’s College, Agra, and Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Language University, Lucknow, had been denied gratuity under similar grounds that were challenged in the earlier case.
The Court quashed Clause 4(1) of the Government Order dated June 22, 2018, and the communication dated December 2, 2024. It further ruled that the petitioner would be entitled to gratuity along with interest at 6% per annum on the arrears, from the date of his superannuation until the date of actual payment. The Court directed that this payment be made within six months of the service of a certified copy of the order to the concerned authorities.
