Judgment Satish Kumar Mittal, J. 1. Initially this petition was filed by petitioner Jeeta Ram, who, during the pendency of the petition, has expired on 18.11.2008. Vide separate order of the even date, his legal representatives have been brought on record. 2. The petitioner had filed this petition for issuing direction to the respondents to release his retiral benefits which were allegedly withheld without any justification. Petitioner Jeeta Ram retired from the services of respondent-Nigam on 31.1.2003 on attaining the age of superannuation. After his retirement, the petitioner was released the pension on the minimum of the pay scale on the basis of his last pay drawn. However, the other retiral benefits were withheld. 3. In the written statement filed by the respondents, it has been stated that the petitioner did not pursue the matter of regularization of his suspension period and due to this laxity on his part, he could not be granted full pension. He was granted minimum pension, but because of non-production of No Demand Certificate, the service benefits and arrears of pension were not released. 4. During the course of arguments, it is conceded by the counsel for both the parties that an amount of Rs. 10,03,269/- was payable to the petitioner towards the retiral benefits on the date of his retirement i.e. 31.1.2003. It is the case of the respondents that from the said amount, an amount of Rs. 6,46,233.19 was recoverable from the petitioner. The detail of the said recoveries has been given as under :- GS202.htm 5. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that as far as the recoveries at serial Nos. 1 to 4 are concerned, the same were recoverable from the petitioner. Regarding other recoveries mentioned at serial Nos. 5 to 11, the same are not recoverable from the petitioner as with regard to those recoveries, no notice was ever issued to the petitioner and he was not provided an opportunity of hearing before ordering those recoveries. In this regard, learned counsel for the respondents while referring to the rejoinder filed on behalf of the respondents to the additional submissions made by the petitioner submitted that as far as the amount of Rs. 614/- mentioned at serial No. 6 is concerned, a notice was issued to the petitioner by the Executive Engineer, Operation Division, H.S.E.B., Shahabad Markanda on 29.11.1997, but no reply was given by him. Regarding the amount of Rs. 614/- mentioned at serial No. 6 is concerned, a notice was issued to the petitioner by the Executive Engineer, Operation Division, H.S.E.B., Shahabad Markanda on 29.11.1997, but no reply was given by him. Regarding the amount of Rs. 31,550/-, which has been mentioned at serial No. 7, a notice was given to the petitioner by the Executive Engineer, Operation Division, H.S.E.B., Shahabad Markanda, but he did not reply to the same. Regarding the amount of Rs. 1,86,341.64, which has been mentioned at serial No. 10, again a notice was issued to the petitioner on 17.1.2002, but no response was given to the said notice. Regarding other recoveries, which are mentioned at Serial Nos. 5, 8, 9 and 11, admittedly no notice was ever issued, and to the extent of the said amount, the retiral benefits of the petitioner were illegally withheld. 6. In view of the aforesaid conceded position, I am of the opinion that the respondents were entitled to withhold only an amount of Rs. 4,47,293.64 and there was no justification to withhold the remaining amount of Rs. 1,98,939.55. Therefore, the respondents are liable to release the said amount to the legal heirs of the petitioner. Respondents are also liable to pay interest on the delayed payment of retiral benefits in view of the judgment passed by this Court in Biram Dass v. UHBVNL & others, 2009(2) S.L.R. 535. Consequently, the petition is partly allowed and a direction is issued to the respondents to release an amount of Rs. 1,98,939.55 along with interest at the rate of 8.5% per annum on delayed payment to the legal heirs of the petitioner within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. Petition partly allowed.