Dwissiyo Wahlang vs. State Of Meghalaya

Serial No. 01 Supplementary 1 List

HIGH COURT OF MEGHALAYA AT SHILLONG

MC[WP(C)] No. 78 of 2023 In WP(C) No. 154 of 2023

Date of Order: 31.05.2023 Smti. Dwissiyo Wahlang Vs. State of Meghalaya & 8 Ors.

Coram:

Hon'ble Mr. Justice W. Diengdoh, Judge

Appearance:

For the Petitioner/Appellant(s) : Mr. S. Sen, Adv.

Mr. S.K. Roy, Adv. For the Respondent(s) : Ms. Z.E. Nongkynrih, GA. for R 1. Mr. A. Kumar, AG. with Mr. A.S. Pandey, Adv. Ms. R. Colney, Adv. Ms. S. Laloo, Adv. Ms. A. Thungwa, Adv. for R 2-9.

1. The petitioner has preferred a writ petition being WP(C) No. 154 of 2023, inter alia, with a prayer for direction to the respondent authorities to pay the sanctioned terminal benefits being the Death-Cum-Retirement Gratuity (DCRG) and 50% of the Leave Encashment Benefits due and payable to the petitioner.

2. Along with the said petition, the petitioner has also preferred a Miscellaneous Application being MC[WP(C)] No. 78 of 2023 with a prayer for release of the amount due and payable to the applicant/petitioner on account of DCRG and 50% of the Leave Encashment Benefits as sanctioned by the respondent authorities vide order dated 17.10.2019.

3. Mr. S. Sen, learned counsel for the applicant/petitioner has submitted that in a similarly situated case, involving the same respondent herein that is, the MeECL, this Court vide order dated 16.12.2022 in MC[WP(C)] No. 213 of 2022 arising out of WP(C) No. 506 of 2022, has directed that the petitioner therein be paid the dues as regard the DCRG and Leave Encashment Benefits, which was accordingly complied with by the said respondent/MeECL. Therefore, the said respondent may also be directed to disburse the said dues to the petitioner on the strength of the said sanctioned order dated 17.10.2019.

4. Mr. A. Kumar, learned AG in reply, has submitted that there are a number of identical cases preferred by several petitioners who were also retired personnel of the respondent MeECL and who have also claimed disbursement of their dues in the form of DCRG and Leave Encashment Benefits. A batch of about 13 writ petitions in this regard are pending before a coordinate bench of this Court, and this Court in the said coordinate bench, has passed related orders from time to time. Therefore, for the sake of convenience, this instant application may also be placed before the said coordinate bench to be decided along with the other identical and related petitions.

5. This Court on consideration of the submission made, without any detailed discussion on the elaborate submission made by the learned counsels for the parties, is in agreement with the submission made by the learned AG that it would be convenient, just and proper that this application be placed before the said bench, which have taken up the hearing of the earlier petition dealing with the same subject matter.

6. Therefore, at this juncture, the prayer of the applicant/petitioner will not be decided conclusively.

7. Registry is directed to place this application before the said coordinate bench for consideration.

Meghalaya 31.05.2023 "D. Nary, PS"