The Punjab and Haryana High Court criticized delays in pension payments to Pritam Kaur, widow of ex-Judge Gurnam Singh Sewak, imposing a Rs 25,000 penalty and emphasizing legal rights to pension benefits.
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has strongly criticized the State and High Court administration for the delay in releasing pension and retiral dues to Pritam Kaur, the widow of former Civil Judge Gurnam Singh Sewak, who passed away in 2021.
Expressing deep disappointment, the Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sudhir Singh imposed a Rs 25,000 penalty on the respondents and warned that failure to pay the widow within 60 days would lead to further action.
“Respondents are liable to be fastened with exemplary costs quantified at Rs 25,000, which shall be paid to the petitioner (widow of the deceased judicial officer) within a period of 60 days, failing which the petition be put up as PUD before the appropriate Bench for execution,”
the Court ordered.
The denial of pension from March 2018 to March 2024 was termed as a “blatant disregard of law” by the Court. It emphasized that pensionary benefits are a legal right under Article 300A of the Constitution and cannot be withheld without legal authority.
“Least that can be said about this case is that neither the judicial officer nor his family after his death were treated with dignity and grace,” the Bench remarked.
Sewak, who started as an Upper Division Clerk in 1964, became a judge in 1973 and retired in 1999. A departmental enquiry delayed his pension, despite the High Court quashing the chargesheet in 2018. The Supreme Court also upheld this decision in 2019, yet pension payments remained stalled.
The Court slammed the State and High Court administration for trying to recover ₹1.87 lakh given to Sewak as a subsistence allowance during his suspension period.
“Under what provision of law is the subsistence allowance being recovered?” the Court asked, ruling that such recovery was not legally justified.
Taking serious note of the long delay in paying dues, the Court directed the State to pay interest on arrears of pension, family pension, and gratuity to Pritam Kaur. It also mandated the Rs 25,000 cost be paid to the widow for the unjust delay.
Case Title – Pritam Kaur v State of Punjab and Others
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