Cuttack: A judge transferred to another high court before retirement can claim post-retirement allowances from the state where he was originally appointed, Orissa high court has ruled, setting aside a state govt order that had restricted such benefits to medical facilities for a retired judge.A division bench of Justice S K Panigrahi and Justice M S Raman, relying on a Supreme Court clarification, gave the order on Nov 2 while considering a petition filed by Justice (retired) Chitta Ranjan Dash, who retired from Calcutta high court in 2024 after serving Orissa HC for nearly 13 years.Last year on April 15, the apex court had issued a clarification, which recognised the entitlement of judges transferred between high courts. “When we say the state government concerned, it will be the state government where the seat of the high court is situated in which the retired judge was firstly appointed or the state government where the seat of the high court is situated from which the judge has retired,” SC had clarified.The HC bench held that Justice Dash was covered by this clarification and the Odisha govt could not deny his claim merely because he retired in another state.The bench directed the Odisha govt to extend all admissible benefits, including allowances for domestic help, driver, secretarial assistance, security and telephone facilities. It also ordered the authorities to calculate and release any arrears within eight weeks of receiving a copy of the judgment.However, the benefits would be subject to verification that he was not receiving similar facilities from the Calcutta HC or any other high court.Under the state govt’s April 24, 2025 notification, retired judges are entitled to Rs 45,000 per month towards domestic help and driver expenses and Rs 15,000 towards telephone, internet, secretarial and security services, with an annual 5% increase.Justice Dash, a native of Sonepur and currently a resident of Cuttack, was appointed to Orissa HC on Oct 7, 2009, and transferred to Calcutta HC in June 2022. After his retirement on May 20, 2024, he sought post-retirement benefits from his parent high court. He did not approach the West Bengal govt for claiming the benefits. However, the state govt, through a July 31, 2025 order, sanctioned only medical facilities, prompting him to challenge the denial of other allowances.The state’s stand that he had retired from the Calcutta HC did not find favour with the bench. In a pointed observation, the bench said, “The facilities extended to retired judges are not favours or concessions. Retired judges should not be forced to repeatedly approach government departments to secure facilities recognised as necessary after a lifetime of public service.”