The court established that periods of Leave Without Allowance cannot be counted as qualifying service for pension, thereby affecting eligibility.

J U D G M E N T

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The petitioner, who has retired from the services of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) as Driver on 30.04.2016, seeks to quash Ext.P9 and to declare that he is entitled to get counted 9 years 11 months and 17 days as qualifying service for pension. The petitioner also seeks to direct the respondents to sanction and disburse the amount of monthly pension with arrears, DCRG, Commuted Value of Pension and other pensionary benefits to the petitioner immediately.

2. The petitioner states that he was appointed as reserve Driver by the KSRTC on 08.07.2000. The petitioner was absorbed into the regular service of KSRTC as per Ext.P2 memo dated 02.07.2001. The petitioner continuously worked as Driver till 09.06.2009. The petitioner applied for five years Leave Without Allowance for taking up other employment abroad. The LWA was granted and the petitioner was relieved of his duties with effect from 10.06.2009. The Leave Without Allowance was extended till

30.04.2015.

3. The petitioner was to retire on 30.04.2016.

The petitioner, in order to rejoin duty before one year of retirement, submitted a representation to the District Transport Officer on 04.04.2015 requesting to cancel the balance 26 days of leave and to allow him to rejoin duty. The 4^th respondent did not permit the petitioner to rejoin duty before 30.04.2015.

4. After retirement, the petitioner requested the

2^nd respondent to grant him pensionary benefits reckoning the period from 04.04.2015 to 30.06.2015 as qualifying service for pension. The petitioner states that Provident Fund amount was given to him in April 2023 but the monthly pension, DCRG and CVP and other benefits are not paid. The respondents are therefore compellable to sanction and disburse monthly pension, DCRG, CVP, etc. to the petitioner.

5. Respondents 2 to 4 opposed the writ petition. The respondents submitted that the petitioner remained on unauthorised leave in order to take up employment abroad. An employee, who had taken leave under Appendix XIIA is not entitled to count the leave period as qualifying service for seniority, grade promotion or pension. The petitioner has qualifying service of only 8 years 10 months and 15 days. The petitioner is therefore eligible to service gratuity alone on his retirement. The petitioner has been sanctioned service gratuity of ₹1,08,443/-. The writ petition is hence without any merit.

6. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner, the learned Government Pleader representing the 1^st respondent and the learned Standing Counsel appearing for respondents 2 to 4.

7. The petitioner was initially appointed as reserve Driver on 08.07.2000. He was absorbed in the regular service of KSRTC on 02.07.2001. The petitioner took Leave Without Allowance with effect from 10.06.2009 to take up employment abroad. The petitioner attained the age of superannuation on 30.04.2016. The petitioner did not join duty after the expiry of his LWA on 30.04.2015.

8. Therefore, the petitioner has qualifying service of only 8 years 10 months and 15 days. Evidently, the LWA periods will be excluded from qualifying service for pension. As the petitioner does not have minimum qualifying service of 10 years, the petitioner is not eligible for ex-gratia pension. The petitioner is eligible only for service gratuity which has already been sanctioned.

The petitioner is not entitled to any further relief. The writ petition is hence dismissed.