The central legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of ad hoc service as qualifying for pension under CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, and the interplay between ad hoc service, regular service, and pension entitlements.

JUDGMENT :

(Jyotsna Rewal Dua, J.)

The petitioners in essence are seeking a direction to the respondents to count ad hoc service rendered by them as qualifying service for the purpose of grant of pension under the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 [CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972) as well as General Provident Fund (GFP in short) alongwith consequential benefits.

2. The case set up by the petitioners is that: -

2(i) The petitioners, seventeen in number, were initially appointed on ad hoc basis as Veterinary Officers between the years 1993 to 2000 (detail is as under):-

Petitioners’ ad hoc appointments were in regular pay scale. They also earned annual increments admissible in the pay scale applicable to the post. All the petitioners were allotted GPF account numbers and had been contributing towards GPF on their ad hoc appointment.

2(ii) On 15.05.2003, the respondents issued notification amending the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 by excluding the appointments made in the State of Himachal Pradesh after the date of publication of the notification in the Rajpatra, Himachal Pradesh from the purview of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.

2(iii) Services of all the petitioners were regularized vide notification dated 03.05.2005 subject to terms and conditions mentioned in the notification. These terms and conditions, inter alia, provided that the petitioners shall be allowed to contribute towards GPF; They must possess at least five years continuous ad hoc service at the time of regularization of their services.

2(iv) The respondents-State issued notification on 17.08.2006, introducing Contributory Pension Scheme for new appointees of the Himachal Pradesh Government appointed on or after 15.05.2003. In terms of Himachal Pradesh Civil Services Contributory Pension Rules, 2006, notified on 17.08.2006, “Employees appointed on or after 15.05.2003 and who are already contributing towards GPF shall cease to continue to subscribe towards the General Provident Fund from the date of notification of the Contributory Pension Scheme. The amount deposited in their General Provident Fund Account shall be transferred to their respective Contributory Pension Fund Account alongwith interest……..”

2(v) On 23.07.2007, some of the petitioners herein were directed by the respondents to apply for the Contributory Pension Scheme Index Number. This was in light of the fact that the petitioners’ services had been regularized on 03.05.2005 i.e. after the issuance of notification of Contributory Pension Scheme, 2006 (15.05.2003).

On 18.02.2008, the respondents issued a memo to some of the petitioners, directing them to apply for the allotment of Contributory Pension Scheme Number.

2(vi) A Civil Writ Petition No.1921 of 2008 was instituted, wherein some of the present petitioners were also the petitioners, claiming that the Contributory Pension Scheme be held not applicable to them and they be further held entitled to continue under the GPF scheme, for whi