IMPORTANT POINT
Entitlement to pension under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, based on completion of eight years of regular service, as determined by the judgments in the cases of Sunder Singh and Balo Devi.

JUDGMENT :

RANJAN SHARMA, J.

CMP No. 18049 of 2023

1. Heard. Allowed.

CWP No. 6263 of 2020

2. With the consent of the parties, the instant writ petition, is taken up for disposal, at this stage, in view of the orders intended to be passed herein.

3. The petitioner, a retired Beldar (Class-IV) from I & PH-Jal Shakti Vibhag, under the Respondent-State has come up before this Court, in the instant petition, seeking the following reliefs:

“(i) That the respondents may kindly be directed to regularize the services of the petitioner on the completion of eight years of daily wage services alongwith benefits.

(ii) That the respondents may kindly be directed to grant pension to the petitioner along-with interest and arrears from the date of his retirement in the interest of justice.”

4. In the background of the reliefs, prayed for above, the case of the petitioner as submitted by the learned counsel is that, the petitioner was engaged as, daily wages beldar on 01.01.1987 in Irrigation and Public Health Division Nerwa, and his services were regularized on 01.01.1997. He further submits that he was conferred work and was then regularized on 01.01.1997, in terms of the mandate of the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Mool Raj Upadhyaya w.e.f. 01.01.2000. The petitioner retired from the service of respondents on 30.06.2003 after rendering regular deemed service of eight years and six months [i.e. based on six years, six months of regular service and two years of deemed regular service, in lieu of ten years of daily wage service].

5. The case of the petitioner is that initially the respondents have not granted the benefit of pension to the petitioner on the plea that he had “not rendered the requisite “qualifying service of ten years” in terms of the law laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court, in case of Sunder Singh.

6. Now, the grievance of the petitioner is that the judgment passed by the Hon’ble Apex Court, in the case of Sunder Singh vs. State of Himachal Pradesh [Civil Appeal No. 6309 of 2017, dated 8.3.2017] has been clarified by the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Balo Devi vs. State of Himachal Pradesh and Others, 2022 (2) Latest HLJ (HP) 817, which mandates that “in case, the regular service and regular service after giving proportional weightage in lieu of daily wage service comes to eight years” then also, the “service of eight years is to be treated as ten years service and such an employee is entitled for pension”. In this background, the said period of service of eight years rendered by the petitioner be treated as ten years of qualifying service but, despite the eligibility and entitlement, in terms of the mandate of law; the denial of pension to the petitioner w.e.f. 01.01.2018 till day is illegal, arbitrary and violative of Articles 14 and 16 and Article 300-A of the Constitution of India.

7. Learned counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance upon the mandate of Hon’ble Apex Court, in case, of Sunder Singh vs. State of Himachal Pradesh, in Civil Appeal No. 6309 of 2017, decided on 8.3.2018, the operative part thereof, read as under:

“6. Some of the petitioners whose writ petitions were disposed of vide the Division Bench's Judgment dated 31.05.2012 chose to assail the said judgment before the Hon'ble Apex Court by filing Special Leave Petitions. The SLPs were connected and decided on 08.03.2018 under the lead case Civil Appeal No. 6309 of 2017, titled as Sunder Singh vs. State of H.P. and others. It would be pertinent to mention herein that the appellant in the aforesaid case were all retired regular Class-IV employees seeking to count the daily wage service, rendered by them prior to their regularization, towards qualifying service for pension. The Hon'ble Apex Court disposed of the petition with the following order:

“1. Heard learned counsel for the parties.

2. The appellants represent class of Class-IV employees who were recruited initially as daily wagers such as Peon/Chowkidar/Sweeper/Farrash/Malis/Rasoia etc. Their services, the