Pension on premature/voluntary retirement requires 20 years qualifying service per amended rules; shorter service ineligible unless government relaxes for undue hardship or grants weightage for prior daily waged service.

JUDGMENT :

Ranjan Sharma, J.

Petitioner Prithi Singh, a retired Fitter, [Class-III] from Irrigation and Public Health [now Jal Shakti Vibhag], has come up before this Court, seeking the following reliefs:-

“i) That the office order dated 24.09.2012, Annexure A-3, issued by respondent No.4 may kindly be quashed and set aside.

ii) That the respondents may very kindly be directed to grant pension and other pensionary benefits etc. to the applicant from due date, i.e. 31.05.2012 along with interest @ 12% per annum.

(iii) That the directions may very kindly be issued to the respondents to give the work charged status/regularization to the applicant as Fitter immediate after the completion of 10 years continuous service, i.e., with effect from 1989 with all consequential benefits.”

FACTUAL MATRIX:

2. Grievance of the petitioner is that he was engaged as Fitter, on Daily Wage Basis, in Irrigation and Public Health, Division No.1, Una, in 1979 and he completed 10 years of continuous service as Daily Waged Fitter in 1989 but his services were regularized as Fitter by respondents after 15 years of continuous Daily Waged Service on 15.12.1994, [Annexure A-1] and after joining on regularization, the petitioner was granted premature voluntary retirement from Government service on 31.05.2012. In this backdrop, the case of petitioner is that though he has rendered 16 years daily waged service from 1978 to 1994 and had rendered regular service of 18 years and 5 months from 15.12.1994 till retirement on 31.05.2012, yet, the State Authorities have not granted pension to the petitioner. It is averred that the case for pension was sent by Executive Engineer, I&PH, Division No.1, Una to Accountant General [A&E] Himachal Pradesh on 27.07.2012, [Annexure A-2], but the same was turned down at the instance of Accountant General Himachal Pradesh Shimla vide letter dated 12.09.2012, on the ground, that as per the Himachal Pradesh Department of Personnel OM dated 16.03.2012, the pensionary benefits, in case of premature/voluntary retirement of an employee was admissible only on completion of 20 years of service and since the petitioner [Prithi Singh] had completed 18 years and 5 months of service, therefore, he was not entitled for the pensionary benefits, leading to rejection of his case on 24.09.2012, [Annexure A-3] and this rejection order has been assailed in the instant petition with the prayer to quash the same and to direct the respondents to grant the pension and other retiral benefits to the petitioner from due date i.e. 31.05.2012 along with interest @ 12% per annum.

STAND OF STATE AUTHORITIES No. 1 to 4 IN REPLY-AFFIDAVIT:

3. Pursuant to the issuance of notice, the Respondents-State Authorities filed a Reply-Affidavit of Superintending Engineer, I &PH Circle Una.

3(i). So far as the claim of the petitioner qua relief (iii) claiming regularization or work charge status from 1989 on completion of 10 years of daily wage service is concerned, the Reply-Affidavit specifically stated that all daily wagers who had completed 10 years or more daily wage service as on 31.12.1993 were to be granted work charge status from 01.01.1994 only. In this backdrop, the prayer of the petitioner for giving him work charge status from the date he completed 10 years of daily wage service from 1989 is not tenable but the claim for work charged status from the date of completion of 10 years of continuous daily waged service w.e.f. 01.01.1994 has merit and is granted, in view of the mandate of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Mool Raj Upadhyaya versus State of Himachal