Holding

The High Court was not justified; arrears should be limited to three years prior to the writ filing and interest should not be awarded.

Summary

Tarsem Singh, invalidated from the Indian Army in 1983, sought disability pension. A single High Court judge in 2000 granted the pension and limited arrears to 38 months before the writ filing. Unsatisfied, Singh appealed, and the High Court Division Bench in 2006 ordered payment of arrears from 1983 (16 years) with 6% interest. The Supreme Court examined whether such extensive arrears could be awarded despite the long delay, applying the doctrines of continuing wrong and recurring/successive wrongs. It held that while relief for a continuing wrong may be granted despite delay, consequential relief like arrears is subject to the three‑year limitation rule, and interest should not be awarded. Consequently, the Division Bench order was set aside and the single judge's order restored.

Issues considered

Whether the High Court was justified in directing payment of disability pension arrears for a period of 16 years with interest.
Whether the doctrine of continuing wrong permits relief despite the long delay.
What limitation period applies to service‑related claims for arrears of pension.

Legislation cited

Limitation Act, 1908s. 23
Limitation Act, 1963s. 22

Subjects

service lawdisability pensioncontinuing wrongrecurring wronglimitation periodarrearsinterestIndian Armywrit petitiondelay

Judgment

[2008] 12 S.C.R. 104

{
A UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
v.
TARSEM SINGH
(Civil Appeal No. 5151-52 of 2008)
AUGUST 13, 2008
B
[RV. RAVEENDRAN AND LOKESHWAR SINGH ·
PANTA, JJ]

Service Law:
C Army - Delay in claiming disability pension ..:. Claim al-
lowed by single Judge of High Court with arrears for 38 months
- DivisiOn Bench granting arrears for 16 years with 6% inter-
est - HELD: Where a service related claim is based on a con-
tinuing wrong, relief can be granted even if there is a long de-
D lay in seeking remedy, provided the order does not affect oth-
ers - As regards consequential relief of recovery of arrears,
principles relating to recurring/successive wrongs will apply
and High Court will restrict the relief relating to arrears nor-
mally to a period of three years prior to date of filing of writ
E petition - In the instant case, delay of 16 years would affect
the consequential claim for arrears - Division Bench of High
Court was not justified in directing payment of arrears for 16
years and that too with interest - Order of Division Bench of
High Cf:!urt set aside - Delay - Interest - Tort.
F Tort:
f-
Continuing wrong and recurring/successive wrongs -
Concept of, relating to service law - Explained.
Balakrishna S.P Waghmare vs. Shree Dhyaneshwar
G Maharaja Sansthan 1959(2) Supp. SCR 476=AIR 1959 SC
798; M.R. Gupta vs. Union of India 1995(2) Supp. SCR
852=1995(5) SCC 628; and Shiv Dass vs. Union of India
2007(1) SCR 1127=2007(9) SCC 274 - relied on.

H 104
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. v. TARSEM SINGH 105
[R.V.RAVEENDRAN, J.]
) Case Law Reference A
1959(2) Supp. SCR 476 relied on para 4
1995(2) Supp. SCR 852 relied on para 4
2007(1) SCR 1127 relied on para 4
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos. B
5151-5152 of 2008
From the final Judgment and Order dated 06.12.2006 and
23.02.2007 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at
Chandigarh in LP.A. No.573 of 2002 in CM No. 99 and 2007 c
B. Datta, ASG., Ashok K. Srivastava and B. Krishna
Prasad for the Appellants.
Neeraj Kr. Jain and Ugra Shankar Prasad for the Respon-
dent. D
The Order of the Court was delivered by
R.V.RAVEENDRAN, J. 1. Leave granted. Heard learned
counsel for the parties.
2. The respondent while working in the Indian Army was E
invalidated out of Army service, in medical category, on
13.11.1983. He approached the High Court in 1999 seeking a
direction to the appellants to pay him disability pension. A
learned Single Judge by order dated 6.12.2000 allowed the
writ petition and directed the appellants to grant him disability F
pension at the rates permissible. In so far as arrears, the relief
was restricted to 38 months prior to the filing of the writ petition.
The respondent was also directed to appear before the Re-
survey Medical Board as and when called upon by the appel-
lants. The appellants did not contest the said decision and G
granted disability pension to respondents and also released
I
the arrears of disability pension for 38 months.
t
3. The respondent however was not satisfied. According
to him the disability pension ought to be paid from the date it
fell due on 13.11.1983. He therefore fUed a Letters Patent Ap- H
106 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 12 S.C.R.

{
A peal. The said appeal was allowed by the Division Bench of the
High Court by judgment dated 6.12.2006. The Division Bench
held that the respondent was entitled to disability pension from
the date it fell due, and it should not be r~stricted to a period of
three years and two months prior to the filing of the writ petition.
)
f
B By a subsequent modification order dated 23.2.2007, the Divi-
sion Bench also granted interest on the arrears at the rate of
)t.
"
6% per annum. The said judgment and order of the Division
Bench is challenged in this appeal. The only question that there-
fore arises for our consideration is whether the High Court was
c justified in directing payment of arrears for a period of 16 years
instead of restricting it to three years.
4. The principles underlying continuing wrongs and recur-
ring/ successive wrongs have been applied to service law dis-
putes. A 'continuing wrong' refers to a single wrongful act which
D causes a continuing injury. 'Recurring/successive wrongs' are
those which occur periodically, each wrong giving rise to a dis-
,¥
tinct and separate cause of action. This Court in Balt:Jkrishna
S.P. Waghmare vs. Shree Dhyaneshwar Maharaj Sansthan - ~
[AIR 1959 SC 798], explained the concept of continuing wrong
E (in the context of section 23 of Limitation Act, 1908 correspond-
ing to section .22 of Limitation Act, 1963) :
"It is the very essence of a continuing wrong that it is an act
which creates a continuing source of injury and renders the
doer of the act responsible and liable for the continuance of
F the said injury. If the wrongful act causes an injury which is
complete, there is no continuing wrong even though the I- ),.
~
damage resulting from the act may continue. If, however, a
>
wrongful act is of such a character that the injury caused by
it itself continues, then the act constitutes a continuing wrong.
In this connection, it is necessary to draw a distinction between
G
the injury caused by the wrongful act and what may be
described as the effect of the said injury."
In M. R. Gupta vs. Union of India [1995 (5) SCC 628], the
appellant approached the High Court in .1989 with a grievance
H in regard to his in.itial pay fixation with effect from 1.8.1978. The
r
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. v. TARSEM SINGH 107
[R.V.RAVEENDRAN, J.]

) claim was rejected as it was raised after 11 years. This Court A
applied the principles of continuing wrong and recurring wrongs
and reversed the decision. This Court held :
"The appellant's grievance that his pay fixation was not in
accordance with the rules, was the assertion of a continuing
wrong against him which gave rise to a recurring cause of B
action each time he was paid a salary which was not computed
..
I
in accordance with the rules. So long as the appellant is in
service, a fresh cause of action arises every month when he
is paid his monthly salary on the basis of a wrong computation
made contrary to rules. It is no doubt true that if the appellant's c
claim is found correct on merits, he would be entitled to be
paid according to the properly fixed pay scale in the future and
the question of limitation would arise for recovery of the arrears
for the past period. In other words, the appellant's claim, if
any, for recovery of arrears calculated on the basis of
difference in the pay which has become time barred would D
not be recoverable, but he would be entitled to proper fixation
of his pay in accordance with rules and to cessation of a
continuing wrong if on merits his claim is justified. Similarly,
any other consequential relief claimed by him, such as,
promotion etc., would also be subject to the defence of !aches E
etc. to disentitle him to those reliefs. The pay fixation can·be
made only on the basis of the situation existing on 1. 8.1978
without taking into account any other consequential relief which
may be barred by his laches and the bar of limitation. It is to
this limited extent of proper pay fixation, the application cannot
be treated as time barred ......... " F
·l In Shiv Dass vs. Unibn of India - 2007 (9) SCC 274, this
Court held:

"The High Court does not ordinarily permit a belated resort to
the extraordinary remedy because it is likely to cause confusion G
and public inconvenience and bring in its train new injustices,
} and if writ jurisdiction is exercised after unreasonable delay,
it may have the effect of inflicting not only hardship and
inconvenience but also injustice on third parties. It was pointed
out that when writ jurisdiction is invoked, unexplained delay
H
108 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [200a] 12 S.C.R.

A coupled with the creation of third party rights in the meantime
.is an important factor which also weighs with the High Court
in deciding whether or not to exercise such ju.risdiction. ·
In the case of pension !he cause of a_ctiqn .actually continues
. from month to month . That, however, cannot be. a gro_und to
B . . . oyerlook deJay in filing the petition .. , ....... If petition is filed
.beyond a. rea~onable period _say th_ree, years. normally the
· Gou rt vvoL1l<;I reject the _same or restrict thei reli,ef which could
be gr,ante~ to a rea~onable period of about.three years."
· ·5. To summarise, normally, a belated service related claim
C will be rejected on the ground ·of delay and ·1aches {Where rem-
edy i:s sought by filing a writ petition) or limitation (where rem-
edy is sought by an application fo the Administrative Tribunal).
One ofthe exceptions to .the said rule' is ca~es relating to a
continuing wro"ng. Where a sen/ice related claim is based on a
D continuing wrong, reiief can b.e.. granted even if there isa long
d~lay in ~eeking remedy,. with refer~mce to the date on which
the continuing wrong commenced, if such continuing wrong cre-
ates a conti[luing source of injury. But there is an e)(ception to
the exception: If the grievance: is in r:espectof any order or ad-
E ministrative decision.which related .to or affected several oth-
ers also, and if the re-opening ofthe· issue would affect the-settled
rights of third parties; then the claim will not be entertained. For
example, ifthe issue·relates to payment or re-fixation of pay or
pension, relief may be granted in spite of delay as it does not
F affect the rights of third parties. But if the claim involved issues
relating to seniority or promotion etc;, affecting ·others, delay
would render the claim stale. and doctrine of !aches/limitation
will be applied. In so· far as the consequential relief of recovery
of arrears for a past period, the principles relating to recurring/
a
successive wrongs Will apply. As consequence, High Courts
G will restrict the consequential relief relating to arrears normally
to a period of three years prior to the date of filing of tlie writ
petition. : · · · · ·
' .
· · · · · 6. In this case, the delay of .16 years would affect the con-
H ·sequential claim for arrears. The High Court was not justified in
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. v. TARSEM SINGH 109
[R.V.RAVEENDRAN, J.]

) directing payment of arrears relating to 16 years, and that too A
with interest. It ought to have restricted the relief relating to ar-
rears to only three years before the date of writ petition, or from
the date of demand to date of writ petition, whichever was lesser.
It ought not to have granted interest on arrears in such circum-
stances. B
7. In view of the above, these appeals are allowed. The
order of the Division Bench directing payment of disability pen-
sion from the date it fell due, is set aside. As a consequence,
the order of the learned Single Judge is restored.
c
R.P. Appeals allowed.

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