IMPORTANT POINT
Employees' prior service must be counted for pension eligibility, as established by Supreme Court rulings.

JUDGMENT :

Rakesh Thapliyal, J.

1. Appellants are aggrieved by the judgment dated 14.07.2020 passed by learned Single Judge in Writ Petition (M/S) Nos. 1891 of 2018 (Smt. Chandra Chauhan and another Vs. State of Uttarakhand and others) and Writ Petition (M/S) Nos. 1874 of 2018 (Devendra Singh Bisht and another Vs. State of Uttarakhand and others) whereby both the writ petitions were disposed of by directing the respondents to determine the reliefs sought for, for grant of pension and gratuity, as admissible to the petitioners, after including the period of services rendered by them from the date of their initial appointment i.e. 1989 and needful to be done by the concerned respondent within a period of six weeks from the date of production of certified copy of this order.

2. Brief facts of the present case are that petitioners were engaged as Class III and IV employees on daily wage basis with the respondent Department in the year 1989. They have filed Writ Petition No. 193 (SS) of 2002 before this Court and this Court by order dated 26.06.2004 directed the respondents Department to consider the case of the petitioners for regularization in terms of the Government Order dated 27.04.2001. Thereafter, the respondent Department granted the petitioners minimum of the pay scale. In the year 2011, the Government of Uttarakhand framed Regularization Rules, 2011 for regularization of services of the employees, who were working in different departments and engaged prior to 2000. In pursuance to the aforesaid Regularization Rules, 2011, petitioners services were regularized in the year 2013. There is one Government Order dated 01.07.1989 issued by the State of U.P. for counting the service rendered by the employee in temporary capacity for the purposes of granting pensionary benefits. Though petitioners have completed more than 22 years of service before their regularization, but respondent department did not count their past service for granting pensionary benefits. Feeling aggrieved, petitioners have approached this Court by way of filing present writ petitions and this Court by judgment dated 14.07.2020 was pleased to dispose of the writ petitions by directing the respondent department to determine the reliefs sought for, for grant of pension and gratuity as admissible to the petitioners, after including the period of service rendered by them from the date of their initial appointment. Thereafter, respondent Department filed a review application, which was also dismissed by the learned Single Judge by order dated 31.08.2021.

3. Feeling aggrieved with orders dated 14.07.2020 and 31.08.2021 passed by the learned Single Judge in writ petitions and review application, the present special appeals have been preferred.

4. The respondent department filed the present Special Appeals mainly on the ground that as per Section 2 (g) of the Uttarakhand Retirement Benefit Act, 2018, earlier service rendered by an employee in the Department cannot be counted for the purposes of grant of pension and Government Order dated 01.07.1989 issued by the State of Uttar Pradesh is not applicable to the petitioners – respondents, herein.

5. Learned Single Judge while dealing with the controversy has placed reliance on the judgment rendered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 10806 of 2017 (Habib Khan Vs. State of Uttarakhand and others) and judgment rendered by the larger Bench of Hon’ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 6798 of 2019 (Prem Singh Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh) decided on 02.09.2019 wherein the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that employees shall be entitled to receive the pension, as if they have retired from the regular establishment and the services rendered by them right from the day they entered the work-charged establishment shall be counted as qualifying service for purpose of pension and in view of reading down Rule 3(8) of the U.P. Retirement Benefits Rules, 1961, the Hon’ble Supreme Court hold that services rendered in the work-cha