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Article Published in the Express Magazine Dated
October 05, 2003
General Attorney : Rajiv K. Luthra
I had opted for voluntary retirement as
Regional Sales Manager, under a Voluntary
Retirement Scheme offered by the pharmaceutical
company I was working for, on March 31, 2002. My
salary accounts were settled, but expense
statements for 20 months, amounting approximately
Rs 70,000, were overlooked on the pretext of
shortage of funds with the company.
Since then on every personal meeting I was
assured of checking the records and settlement. At
my last meeting, I was told that since the company
accounts were not traceable, my accounts cannot be
settled. How can I recover my money?
Dhairya N Sagne, Ujjain
As long as your employment contract with the
company provided for reimbursement of expenses
incurred by you, the company is required to settle
accounts with you. This is, however, subject to
the terms of the Voluntary Retirement Scheme that
you had availed of. If the scheme specifically
provided for you to give up your right to be
reimbursed for expenses incurred by you, you might
be precluded from recovering the same from the
company.
The amount due to you from the company operates as
a debt from the date of your retirement, and the
proper way to recover it is to file a suit for its
recovery. This suit must be filed within the
period of Limitation prescribed by the Limitation
Act, which would generally be three years from the
time the amount became due to you.
About 50 years ago my late father had acquired
a piece of vacant land on rent from the village
head. On this piece of land a structure for
business activities was raised by my father, which
was approved by the Pune Municipal Corporation
under no-objection letter from the son of the
deceased village head. I have been regularly
paying the rent although no rent receipts have
ever been issued. I, however, have been running a
technical institute recognised by the government
on the property, and also have a Shop Act License
for the same. In June 2003, I gave the place out
on a leave and license basis. But the third
generation heir of the village head interfered and
has locked the shop after forcibly driving the
licensee out. The shutter is still locked. What
are the legal options available to me?
V P Agarwal
From the limited facts available to us, it appears
that you have been dispossessed of property
without your consent and without recourse to the
due process of law. In such a case, the recourse
available to you is to file a suit under Section 6
of the Specific Relief Act to get back the
possession of the property and to get an
injunction order restraining the landlord from any
such action in future as well.
Such a suit must be instituted within six months
of dispossession, and title to the property is not
relevant in such a suit. In order for such a suit
to be successful, you should be able to show that
you have been in possession of the property before
dispossession, and that the dispossession has been
otherwise than in the due course of law.
Please note that the relief under Section 6 of the
Specific Relief Act is of temporary nature and it
would be open for the landlord to start eviction
proceedings against you if it is possible to do so
under the terms of the agreement or the applicable
law.
As part of a Hindu Undivided Family we owned
land, which we sold to a co-operative housing
society some 20 years ago. It was decided to pay
the amount in installments. All but the last
installments were paid by the society. When
approached regarding the same they did not pay any
heed and have already started with the
construction. We have the legal documents stating
that the society will pay in installments. What
course of action will be suitable?
Vinod Patil
The solution to your problem depends on the terms
of the Sale Agreement between you and the
co-operative housing society. If, as per the
Agreement, the housing society was required to pay
the entire amount before starting with the
construction work, then the contract has been
breached by their beginning the work.
When a contract has been broken, the party who
suffers by such breach, is entitled to receive
compensation for any loss or damage that has been
caused due to such breach, from the other party.
Hence, you can file a suit for damages for breach
of contract against the co-operative housing
society. If the contract does not specify when the
housing society is entitled to begin construction,
you can file a suit for specific performance of
the contract against the society, and obtain an
order directing them to pay the money owed to you
before continuing with the construction.
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