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Allahabad High Court · body

2002 DIGILAW 1470 (ALL)

RAM SHANKAR SINHA v. UNION OF INDIA (UOI)

2002-10-09

G.P.MATHUR, VINEET SARAN

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VINEET SARAN, J. ( 1 ) THE petitioner was an employee of the Indian Railways and after completion of 20 years of service, he sought voluntary retirement on 31. 7. 1976. A pension scheme was introduced for the employees of the Indian Railways on 16. 11. 1957 w. e. f. 1. 4. 1957. Prior to this, the employees were governed by the State Railways Provident Fund Rules (hereinafter referred to as the s. R. P. F. Rules ). On the introduction of the pension scheme, all the Railways employees were asked to give their option as to whether they would like to be governed by the pension scheme or by the existing S. R. P. F. Rules. Like many other employees, the petitioner had opted to be governed by the S. R. P. F. Rules and not the pension scheme. ( 2 ) AFTER seeking voluntary retirement in 1976, the petitioner agitated the matter and claimed to be entitled to the pensionary benefits under the pension scheme. More than 20 years after his retirement, he filed an application under Section 19 of the Central Administrative Tribunal Act for grant of pensionary benefits. The Central Administrative Tribunal, Allahabad Bench, allahabad, registered the case as O. A. No. 772 of 1997. After exchange of the pleadings and hearing the parties, the Tribunal held that since despite several opportunities having been given to him till the time of his retirement, the petitioner had not opted for the pension scheme introduced by the Railways, he could not now be given the benefit of the scheme. The Tribunal also considered the prayer of the petitioner for grant of ex gratia payment under a scheme that had been introduced by the railways and held that since the said scheme was for the families of the deceased retirees who had opted to be governed by the S. R. P. F. Rules, the petitioner, who was claiming for himself, could not get the benefit of the same. ( 3 ) THIS petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with the prayer for quashing the said order dated 26. 10. 1999 of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Allahabad bench, Allahabad, denying to the petitioner the benefit of pension scheme as well as of ex-gratia payment schemes of the Railways. ( 3 ) THIS petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with the prayer for quashing the said order dated 26. 10. 1999 of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Allahabad bench, Allahabad, denying to the petitioner the benefit of pension scheme as well as of ex-gratia payment schemes of the Railways. ( 4 ) WE have heard Sri P. K. Srivastava, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Govind Saran learned counsel appearing for the contesting respondents (Railways ). Since counter and rejoinder-affidavits have been exchanged, with the consent of parties, we are disposing of the writ petition finally. ( 5 ) SRI P. K. Srivastava, made a statement that he does not want to press the prayer regarding the grant of pension and thus he confined his arguments only with regard to the grant of ex-gratia payment. Along with the writ petition, the petitioner filed an office memorandum dated 13. 6. 1988 which relates to grant of ex gratia payment to families of deceased retirees. A perusal of the said office memorandum (filed as Annexure-4 to the writ petition), would go to show that under the scheme, widows and dependent children of the deceased retirees who had retired prior to 1. 1. 1986 and had opted for the S. R. P. F. Rules would get certain ex-gratia payment. In our opinion, the same would certainly not apply to the case of the petitioner who is claiming the benefit of the same for himself. ( 6 ) HOWEVER, along with the counter-affidavit filed by the contesting respondents, a circular dated 27. 1. 1988 of the Railway Board has been filed as Annexure-C. A. 5 which relates to the "grant of ex-gratta payment to surviving S. R. P. F. (C) retirees of the period from 1,4. 1957 to 31. 12. 1985". A perusal of the said circular shows that the same would apply to those who had retired from service only on superannuation and categorically barred those employees from the benefit of ex-gratia payment under the said circular who had sought voluntary retirement. The petitioner does not dispute that he had sought voluntary retirement on 31. 7. 1976 after completion of 20 years of service. The petitioner does not dispute that he had sought voluntary retirement on 31. 7. 1976 after completion of 20 years of service. ( 7 ) SRI P. K. Srivastava, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the condition in the circular that the benefit of ex-gratta payment would not be available to employees seeking voluntary retirement is arbitrary and hit by Article 14 of the Constitution of India. In our view, employees retiring after attaining the age of superannuation, and those seeking voluntary retirement or being compulsorily retired as a measure of penalty or being retired prematurely in any manner, cannot be classified in the same category. The learned counsel for the contesting respondent contended that those who retire on attainment of age of superannuation serve the institution till such period as they are required to ; whereas those who seek premature or voluntary retirement after completion of 20 years of service have an option of being gainfully employed elsewhere or getting self-employed in their own business or profession. As such, the said circular of the Railway Board dated 27. 1. 1998 cannot be said to be discriminatory or violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. In our view, the submission has force and the petitioner would not be entitled to grant of ex-gratia payment under the said circular. ( 8 ) THUS, we find that the order dated 26. 10. 1999, does not call for interference by this Court. The petitioner would not be entitled to the benefit of the pension scheme or the office memorandum or circular for the grant of ex-gratia payment. As a result, the writ petition is dismissed being devoid of merit. .