JUDGMENT In all these petitions, the petitioners are claiming retiral dues such as Gratuity, arrears of D.A., differences of pay fixations, leave encashment, differences in pay scales, payments towards paid holidays, payments of bonus, overtime and night halt, and the amount of security. In support of his submission, Shri Nair, learned counsel for petitioners, cited two decisions before me. One of Vijay L. Mehrotra v. State of U.P. and others reported in JT 2000 (5) SC 171, in which the Court has considered the claim for GPF, GIS, leave encashment, arrears of pay, gratuity, commuted pension arid also the detained amount. He has cited another judgment in the case of Gorakhpur University and others v. Dr. Shitla Prasad Nagendra and others reported in AIR 2001 SC 2433 , for the purpose of emphasising the position that pension and gratuity are no longer matters of any bounty to be distributed by the' Government but are valuable rights acquired and property in their hands and any delay in settlement and disbursement whereof should be viewed and dealt with seriously by imposing penalty in the form of payment of interest. In reply, the submission of Shri Sethi, learned counsel for respondents/MPSRTC is that there is no dispute- about the payment of retiral dues to the petitioners: His further submission is that now the State Government has granted some funds to the respondents-corporation for the distribution of retiral dues to the petitioners and the corporation has also raised funds for such payments. His only submission is that the corporation is willing to pay GPF: amount due towards leave encashment; gratuity; arrears of pay, if they are applicable and payable without any dispute; and also ready to pay the amount of bonus, over time and night halts as per their admissibility but for that he prayed that a reasonable time be granted to clear the dues. His further submission is that in Writ Petition No. 2117 of 2000 (Smt. Sobha Sharmav. MPSRTC and others) this Court has already granted time to pay the amount of retiral benefits and other benefits in phrases right from 31st December, 2001 to 30th June, 2002. Therefore, his submission is that some more time, just to say three months, be granted in these set of petitions so that he may make the compliance of this Court's order without any default. Therefore, his submission is that some more time, just to say three months, be granted in these set of petitions so that he may make the compliance of this Court's order without any default. I have heard learned counsel for parties, perused the record and also considered the submissions of the parties. There is no dispute between the parties about payment of the amount of retiral dues to the petitioners. In view of the above submissions, there is no doubt that these benefits are payable as a right, not as a bounty. Therefore, looking to the facts and in the circumstances of the. case, this petition and all connected petitions are hereby disposed of by the following directions : (a) That the respondent-.MPSRTC shall pay all the retiral benefits to the petitioners on or before 31 st March, 2002. (b) The amount, other than retiral benefits which are not disputed and payable to the employees, shall be paid by 31 st August, 2002. (c) The petitioners shall also be entitled for payment of interest @ 15% p.a. from the date they became entitled for payment of their dues till payment. If the total amount is not cleared till 31 st August, 2002 then the rate of interest would be increased to 18% p.a. from 1 st September, 2002. (d) It is also made clear that the amounts shall be paid by cheques demand drafts payable at the place-places where the petitioners are residing. (e) In case the respondent-MPSRTC shall not comply with the aforesaid directions, then the petitioners shall be free to file an appropriate petition for contempt. (f) The aforesaid directions issued in this order in favour of the petitioners shall also be applicable on all other employees who have not filed any petition before this Court for payment of their retiral dues. The respondents-MPSRTC shall also settle their claims and pay their retiral dues as early as possible without any delay and in case of any delay of more than three months, the employees shall be entitled for interest thereon. With the aforesaid directions, this and all the connected petition's stand disposed of with no order as to costs. A copy of this order be kept in each of the connected petitions for ready reference.