The Madras High Court has ruled that an employee’s community certificate can be scrutinised even after retirement, holding that superannuation does not prevent authorities from examining whether the certificate used to secure public employment was valid.
Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy made the observation while dismissing two petitions filed by A Jegannathan, a former Chennai Port Trust employee who had retired as a section superintendent in 2013. Jegannathan had joined the organisation as a Mazdoor on the basis of a Scheduled Tribe community certificate issued in 1980.
The court rejected the argument that verification could not be pursued because the certificate and appointment dated back to a period before 1995. It also held that the employee’s retirement could not, by itself, protect service benefits if the underlying community claim was found to be invalid.
“The law is settled that protecting service benefits merely because the employee has attained superannuation is akin to allowing the thief to retain stolen property and perpetrating constitutional fraud,” Justice Chakravarthy said, citing an earlier judgment of a full bench of the court. “As such, the matter is no longer res integra,” he added.
The case involved proceedings that had remained pending during Jegannathan’s service and after his retirement. Because the verification of his community certificate was unresolved when he retired, he was granted only a provisional pension. His full pension, gratuity and other terminal benefits were withheld, prompting him to approach the High Court.
According to the court’s observations, a vigilance report and independent verification reports prepared by authorities contained what the court described as overwhelming evidence that the petitioner did not belong to the Scheduled Tribe category. The court therefore declined to grant relief in relation to the withheld retirement benefits.
The judgment also addressed the length of the litigation. The court said Jegannathan had pursued legal proceedings from 1985 and had successfully delayed the matter until 2021, adding that such a situation could no longer be permitted. It held that the principles of natural justice cannot be treated as a fixed formula applicable in every circumstance and that the facts of each case must be considered.
The court further stated that fraud is incompatible with the principle of natural justice. Its ruling therefore keeps open the authority’s ability to verify a community certificate after retirement when the validity of the certificate is central to the appointment or service benefits being claimed.
The petitions were dismissed, leaving the verification proceedings and the consequences for the petitioner’s pension, gratuity and other terminal benefits in place.
