A division bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has ruled that an employee who is given compulsory retirement in violation of rules and later reinstated will be entitled to full wages and other benefits for the period when they were out of the job. This ruling came after the Bank of India (BOI) appealed a decision made by a single bench, which had ordered the bank to pay dues to an employee for the period he was out of work due to compulsory retirement.
The case involves Narmada Prasad Chaudhary, who joined the Bank of India in July 1974. In January 2002, the bank prematurely retired him from his position. Chaudhary challenged the decision in the High Court, where he won the case. The bank then appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, which upheld the High Court’s decision. As a result, Chaudhary was reinstated in his job in September 2009.
However, when calculating his post-retirement benefits, the bank did not account for the period during which he was out of work due to the compulsory retirement, a period of more than seven years. This omission affected the calculation of his salary and retirement benefits.
Chaudhary then appealed again to the High Court. In this case, a single-judge bench ruled in his favor, ordering the bank to pay him his wages, promotion benefits, and other dues for the time he was out of service. The bank management challenged this decision, and the matter was brought before a division bench.
The division bench, led by Chief Justice SK Kait and Justice Vivek Jain, upheld the lower court’s decision. They ordered the Bank of India to pay Chaudhary his full wages, promotion benefits, and other entitlements for the period of his forced retirement. The court also directed the bank to pay an 8 percent interest on the dues owed to him.
Notably, Chaudhary argued his case in court on his own, without legal representation.
