The Delhi High Court has ordered the Madhya Pradesh government to release all pending retirement dues of late Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Vinay Shukla.
Terming the case as a sad and shocking state of affairs, the Division Bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Renu Bhatnagar expressed serious concern over the disturbing pattern, wherein an officer was being repeatedly victimised, not only after his superannuation but also after his death.
The High Court passed the order on a petition filed by the Madhya Pradesh government, challenging the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order that ruled in favour of the deceased civil servant.
CAT had quashed the recovery notice of Rs 1.22 crore against the late government official and directed release of his pending retirement dues with interest. It further barred the state government from linking payment of dues to the said recovery.
As per the case, the brother of respondent no.1, Vinay Shukla was an 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.
Shukla approached the Madhya Pradesh cadre seeking change in his allotment. In 2007, the Government of India reallocated him to the MP cadre. As per Shukla, although he had reported for duty, he was not assigned any work.
The IAS officer approached the CAT Jabalpur, which ruled in his favour in 2008. The State of Madhya Pradesh then challenged the order before the MP High Court, which was dismissed in 2009. Shukla then moved the Apex Ccourt, however, the SLP was dismissed.
The officer had rejoined service in April 2009 and retired in July 2010. In April 2016, the Madhya Pradesh government issued a recovery order, demanding Rs 1.22 crore for alleged unauthorised stay in government accommodations over several years. Shukla then approached CAT, which ruled in his favour.