PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision : 08.01.2026

1. LPA-3638-2025 (O&M)

The Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank Ltd. and another ...Appellants Vs.

Bhupinder Sharma and others ..Respondents

2. LPA-3640-2025 (O&M) The Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank Ltd. and another ...Appellants Vs.

Pradeep Kumar Kalia and others ...Respondents

3. LPA-3641-2025 (O&M) The Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank Ltd.and another ...Appellants Vs.

Gurpreet Singh and others ...Respondents

4. LPA-3650-2025 (O&M) The Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank Ltd.and another ...Appellants Vs.

Ragho Ram and others ...Respondents

5. LPA-3639-2025 (O&M) The Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank Ltd. and another ...Appellants Vs.

Narinder Mohan Sharma and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ANUPINDER SINGH GREWAL HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE DEEPAK MANCHANDA Present: Ms. Anu Chatrath, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Nishant Maini, Advocate for the appellants.

Ms. Arundhati Kulshreshtha, AAG, Punjab.

Mr. D.S.Patwalia, Sr.Advocate with Mr. Gauravjit Patwalia, Advocate Mr. Gaurav Rana, Advocate Ms. Priyanka Chaudhary, Advocate for the caveator-respondent(s) in LPA-3638-2025.

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DEEPAK MANCHANDA , J.

CM-8946-LPA-2025 This is an application seeking condonation of delay of 39 days in filing the appeal.

For the reasons mentioned in the application, the same is allowed.

Delay of 39 days in filing the appeal is condoned.

Main case Through the present Intra-Court Appeals, the appellant has challenged the impugned judgment dated 25.09.2025, whereby the writ petition(s) filed by the respondents was allowed. Since common questions of law and facts are involved in the aforementioned appeals, the same are being disposed of by this common judgment. For the sake of convenience and reference, the facts are being taken from LPA No.3638 of 2025.

2. The facts emanating from the pleadings are that the respondents are retired employees of the appellant-department and their services are governed by the Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Land Mortgage Bank Service (Common Cadre) Rules, 1978. Initially, the employees were covered under the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provision Act, 1952. In 1989, by way of Resolution No.24 dated 22.06.1989, duly approved by the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Punjab vide Memo dated 07.02.1990, a Pension Scheme was introduced with effect from 01.04.1989 by inserting Rule 15 (ii) into the 1978 Rules, thereby giving the scheme a statutory flavour. The contributions made by the employees as well as the appellant-Bank were transferred to create a Trust for a pension corpus fund vide deed dated 24.03.1993 in order to ensure viability of the Pension Scheme. However, since Bank failed to constitute a board of trustees, relaxation was granted to the appellant-Bank by the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner (RPFC) under para 28(7) of the Employees Deposit Link Insurance Scheme, 1976 with regard to implementation of the Pension Scheme, later on, the said relaxation was withdrawn vide order dated 12.04.1993. Aggrieved by the said order, appellant Bank approached this Court by way of CWP-4896-1993, whereby vide order dated 18.07.2007, the order dated 12.04.1993 was set aside and the RPFC was directed to reconsider the matter. The Board of Directors in its meeting dated 29.05.2010, reconsidered the matter and decided that the Pension Scheme will not be applicable to employees employed on or after 01.01.2004, as same was not approved by the RCS. However, appellant-Bank stopped paying pension to its employees in terms of resolution dated 29.05.2010 vide order dated 24.02.2011 (Annexure P-7). It was found that Bank paid full pension upto 31.03.2010, but due to inadequacy of funds, the pensions could not be paid at full rate, which was challenged before this Court and vide order dated 26.07.2012 (Annexure P-8), a comprehensive scheme to resolve the issue was called for.