Somewhere between a government file and a courtroom, Rs 16,890 acquired a life of its own. On paper, it was a recovery carried out from the retirement benefits of a workman’s retirement benefits. In reality, it became a 14-year pursuit — long enough for the worker to grow old defending it. When the matter reached the decisive stage before Punjab and Haryana High Court, the number stayed the same. The man did not. He was now about 75.Taking up the petition filed against the workman by the Director, State Transport, Punjab, and another petitioner against the worker, the court said it, almost with disbelief: “At the outset, this court has been informed that the amount, which is a bone of contention, is Rs 16,890. Astonishingly, the state has been pursuing the litigation since 2012, for a meagre amount of Rs 16,890. By now, the workman is around 75 years, and ironically he has been dragged up till this court to defend the proceedings in his twilight days, for the above said amount.”The story had begun routinely. The employee was granted Assured Career Progression in 1999 on completing 24 years of service. He retired in October 2007. Then the benefit was withdrawn in January 2008. His pay was reduced on account of re-fixation. Thereafter, even the recovery was carried out of his retirement benefits. Aggrieved, the workman, through the Punjab Roadways Workers’ Union, raised an industrial dispute.The Industrial Tribunal then quashed the order and the workman was held entitled to release of the amount deducted from his retirement benefits. “In this backdrop, the state management is before this court,” Justice Kuldeep Tiwari asserted.    Faced with the optics — and perhaps the arithmetic — of the situation, the state chose not to press its own petition. There was, however, one last insistence: that the relief granted should not become a precedent. The court agreed, closing the case with a caveat: “Anything observed by the tribunal shall not endure to the benefit of any other employee.”The litigation, as such, ended — not with a verdict on principle, but with a quiet retreat.