Judgment 1. The petitioner was appointed as a Secretary in the second respondent Society on 01.10.1976. He worked for more than 38 years. On 30.06.2011, he was allowed to retire from service. But his terminal benefits viz., gratuity, Provident fund and Earned Leave Encashment were not paid to him. Those amounts were withheld by the second respondent. 2. The petitioner filed an application under the Payment of Gratuity Act before the competent authority claiming gratuity amount of Rs.5,02,016/-in P.G.Case No.4 of 2011. Since the second respondent did not appear, the authority allowed the said application on 21.06.2013 and an ex parte order was passed, directing the second respondent to pay Rs.5,17,143/- towards gratuity within 30 days with 10% interest. 3. Aggrieved over the same, the second respondent filed an application before the competent authority to set aside the ex parte order and the same was numbered as PGIA 142 of 2013, which is pending adjudication. 4. In the mean time, the petitioner has filed a revision application dated 27.06.2012 under Section 153 of the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies Act, before the first respondent claiming terminal benefits. The first respondent passed the impugned order dated 25.07.2012, rejecting the revision filed under Section 153 of the Act stating that since the petitioner is facing surcharge proceedings, he could not claim terminal benefits. The petitioner has filed this writ petition to quash the aforesaid order dated 25.07.2012 of the first respondent. 5. The learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that under Section 14 of the Payment of Gratuity Act, no amount can be withheld from the gratuity. Since the petitioner has approached the competent authority under the Act, I am of the view that he cannot make claim before this Court, in respect of gratuity. Even otherwise, I am of the considered view that as far as gratuity is concerned, the appropriate authority is under the Payment of Gratuity Act and not this Court. Even a Labour Court cannot entertain a claim for gratuity under Section 33-C(2) of the I.D.Act as per the decision of the Apex Court reported in 1980 1 SCC 4 [State of Punjab v. Labour Court, Jullundur and others] and the proper forum is the authority created under the Payment of Gratuity Act. In these circumstances, I am not inclined to consider the plea of the petitioner relating to gratuity. In these circumstances, I am not inclined to consider the plea of the petitioner relating to gratuity. Hence, the parties should work out their remedies before the said authority. 6. As far as other terminal benefits are concerned, they are Provident Fund and Earned Leave Encashment. 7. The second respondent has filed a counter affidavit stating that provident fund payable to the petitioner is Rs.96,162/- and Earned Leave Encashment is Rs.1,25,394/-. It is the case of the second respondent that the petitioner is liable to pay Rs.7,57,081/- towards surcharge proceedings, issued by the Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Vridhachalam. 8. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that as against the order of the Deputy Registrar, C.M.A.No.33 of 2013 is pending before the Principal District Judge, Cuddalore. He would submit that even if the petitioner is not successful, he can adjudicate before this Court by way of writ petition and writ appeal. 9. The learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that there is a protection given under Section 78 of the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies Act. It is also his case that Earned Leave Encashment cannot be denied even to a person, who is dismissed from service. In this case, the petitioner is not dismissed from service, but he was allowed to retire. No disciplinary action was initiated against him and only surcharge proceeding was initiated against him and it did not attain finality. 10. The learned counsel for the petitioner relied on a judgment of this Court in W.P.No.9519 of 2012 dated 04 07.2012 to contend that even in the case of dismissal, Earned Leave Encashment cannot be denied, since it was only the wages that are payable to the petitioner. The following passage may be usefully extracted below:- "4. In view of the filing of the additional affidavit by the petitioner and having regard to the fact that special provident fund, general provident fund and encashment of earned leave cannot be withheld by the respondents even if she is dismissed from service after conclusion of the departmental proceedings, this writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the respondents to pay the petitioner the amount payable to her in respect of General Provident Fund, Special Provident Fund and encashment of earned leave to her credit within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order." 11. He also relied on a Full Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court vide judgment dated 09.11.2012 in LPA No.113 of 2012, wherein, it is observed as follows:- "12. We are, therefore, in agreement with the view taken by the Division Bench of this Court in B.S.Gupta's case (supra) holding that amount of leave encashment is payable to the retiring employee notwithstanding the pendency of the departmental enquiry or criminal proceedings." 12. Therefore, I am of the view that the respondents cannot withhold Provident Fund and Leave Encashment amount payable to the petitioner. 13. At the time of admission, this Court issued a direction on 28.03.2013 to pay the undisputed portion of terminal benefits. Pursuant to the order of this Court, it is stated that the second respondent has paid a sum of Rs.1,21,491/-. It is not known as to how they arrived at this amount as undisputed amount. In any event, it is an admitted fact that the said amount was paid. 14. In this context, it is necessary to refer to Section 78 of the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies Act, which is as follows:- "Provident Fund - (1) A registered Society not being an Establishment to which the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (Central Act XIX of 1952) applies, may establish a Provident Fund for the benefit of its Employees to which shall be credited all contributions made by the Employees and the Society in accordance with the Bylaws." 15. Taking into account Section 78 of the Act, Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies Act, I am of the view that the petitioner is entitled to Provident Amount of Rs. 96,162/- and Earned Leave Encashment of Rs.1,25,394/-. It is stated that Rs.1,21,491/-has already been paid. Hence, the petitioner is entitled to receive the balance amount of Rs.1,00,065/- 16. In view of the above, the writ petition stands allowed to the extent indicated above and the respondents are directed to pay a sum of Rs.1,00,065/-payable to the petitioner, within a period of 12 weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. No costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed.