Employees engaged against vacancies and serving prior to a pension scheme cut-off date cannot be denied old pension benefits if the delay in their formal regularization was caused by the employer's administrative lapses.

ORDER

Per: - Rajinder Singh Dogra, Judicial Member

1. The SWP No.336/2018 was transferred from the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu & Kashmir at Jammu and was registered as T.A No.6081/2020 by the Registry of this Tribunal.

2. The present matter was filed before the Hon’ble High Court seeking following relief: -

a) “Writ of Certiorari seeking quashing of notification dated 24.12.2009 issued vide SRO 400 by respondent No.1 so for as it pertains to Rule-4 (i) and (ii) provided in Schedule (XXIII) Annexure 'A' with the SRO being not applicable to the case of petitioners.

b) With a further direction to the respondents to grant benefit of seniority and other consequential benefits from the date the petitioners have completed seven years of regular service as daily wagers.

c) With a further direction to the respondents to allot General Provident Fund Account number to the petitioners enabling the petitioners to contribute towards the General Provident Fund.

d) Any other writ, order or direction whatever the Hon'ble Court may deem fit under the circumstances of the case may also be passed in faovur of the petitioners.”

3. The facts of the case as pleaded by the petitioners in their pleadings are as follows: -

a) The present Transfer Application arises out of SWP No. 336/2018, which was originally filed before the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu & Kashmir at Jammu and, upon transfer, was registered as T.A. No. 6081/2021 before this Tribunal.

b) The applicants are permanent residents of the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir and citizens of India. They were initially engaged by the Power Development Department as Daily Wagers against available vacancies and, on account of their continuous service and experience, were subsequently categorized as Temporary Daily Labourers (TDL) / Permanent Daily Labourers (PDL). The dates of their engagement as TDL/PDL stand duly reflected in the departmental records and promotion orders placed on record.

c) Pursuant to Cabinet Decision No. 151/23/2012 dated 30.08.2012, conveyed through communication dated 03.09.2012, the Power Development Department was authorized to consider eligible PDL/TDL workers for promotion against available vacancies, subject to the condition that no new posts would be created. In furtherance thereof, the Chief Engineer, EM&RE Wing, Jammu recommended the cases of eligible PDL/TDL employees, including the applicants, and guidelines were issued by the Administrative Department for convening the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC).

d) Accordingly, the cases of the applicants were considered by the duly constituted DPC, and vide Order No. CEJ/DPC/13 of 2013 dated 14.10.2013, they were promoted/regularized as Class-IV employees against available vacancies in accordance with the Jammu & Kashmir Power Development Department (Subordinate) Service Recruitment Rules, 1981 notified vide SRO 381. The applicants joined the promoted posts and have since been discharging their duties satisfactorily.

e) The grievance of the applicants arose when, despite their long and continuous service rendered prior to 01.01.2010 as PDL/TDL/work-charged employees, they were sought to be governed by the Jammu & Kashmir Civil Services (Defined Contribution Pension Scheme) Rules, 2010, notified vide SRO 400 dated 24.12.2009. The applicants were directed to apply for allotment of PRAN numbers under the New Pension Scheme (NPS), failing which the