'Victimised Even After Death’: Delhi HC Directs MP Govt to Release Retiral Dues of Late IAS Officer

The Delhi High Court has recently directed the State of Madhya Pradesh to release all pending retirement dues of deceased IAS officer Vinay Shukla while holding that Shukla was victimised even after his death.

“This case presents a sad and shocking state of affairs, a disturbing pattern wherein an officer was being repeatedly victimized, not only after his superannuation but also after his death,” a division bench comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Renu Bhatnagar said.

The division bench was hearing a plea filed by the State of Madhya Pradesh, by which it had challenged the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT)’s order, which had ruled in favour of late IAS officer Vinay Shukla.

In its order, CAT had quashed the recovery notice of Rs 1.22 crore against the late IAS officer. It had directed the release of his pending retirement dues with interest. Finally, it had also barred the State from linking payment of dues to the said recovery.

In the case at hand, the brother of respondent no.1, Vinay Shukla, was an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer of the 1974 batch. After the bifurcation of the State of MP, Shukla was wrongly allocated to Chhattisgarh based on incorrect information given by the MP Government.

Aggrieved by this, he had submitted a representation to change his allotment to the Madhya Pradesh cadre. Finally, in 2007, the Union Govt reallocated him to the MP cadre. However, though he had reported for duty, he was not assigned any work.

Thereafter, he approached the CAT Jabalpur, which ruled in his favour in 2008. The MP government had then challenged the order before the MP High Court, which was dismissed in 2009. It had also moved the top court; however, the SLP had also been dismissed.

Pursuant to this, the officer had rejoined service in April 2009 and retired in July 2010. The MP Government had later issued a recovery order (April 2016) demanding Rs 1.22 crore for alleged unauthorised stay in government accommodations over several years. He had then approached CAT, which had ruled in his favour and is also the subject matter in the present case.

Before the High Court, the petitioner, the State of Madhya Pradesh, contended that retirement benefits can’t be released unless government dues are cleared, arguing that Rs 1.22 crore was owed for unauthorised stay in government guest houses from 1986–2012.

Opposing the plea, the brother of the deceased IAS officer submitted that he had been victimised even after death. The period of occupation had already been regularised by the Government as “compulsory waiting.”He added that the state failed to act timely manner and used litigation to delay benefits.

While upholding the CAT’s ruling, the High Court strongly criticised the State for “victimising” the officer even posthumously.

It directed payment of all retirement dues after deducting Rs 7,63,700, which the officer himself had admitted as dues.

"Further, as the payment of the retirement benefits of the brother of respondent no.1 had been unauthorizedly withheld by the petitioner, the directions for releasing the same, along with interest, have also been rightly passed by the learned Tribunal," the court held.

Accordingly, the court dismissed the plea filed by the State of Madhya Pradesh.

Case Title: State of Madhya Pradesh vs. K.M. Shukla & Anr., W.P.(C) 13936/2024