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2006 DIGILAW 1935 (PNJ)

S. K. Makkar v. State of Haryana

2006-05-04

JAGDISH SINGH KHEHAR, P.S.PATWALIA

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JUDGMENT P.S. PATWALIA, J. 1. The petitioner was selected and appointed as Assistant District Attorney in the Directorate of Prosecution Haryana and he assumed his duties as such at Sirsa on March 08, 1978. Having rendered a number of years of service entitling him to seek voluntary retirement, the petitioner put in his papers and was allowed to retire voluntarily by an order dated February 23, 2000. The claim of the petitioner is that seeking voluntary retirement, as per the petitioner’s own saying, was under Rule 5.32-B, contained in Volume II, Part I of the Punjab Civil Services Rules (as applicable to the State of Haryana). Having retired from service, the petitioner now claims certain additional benefits under Rule 4.2-A. Specific reference in this behalf has been made to Rule 4.2-A of the Punjab Civil Services Rules, Volume II, Part I (as applicable to the State of Haryana). The aforesaid Rule 4.2-A is being extracted hereunder :- 4.2-A. “An officer appointed to a service or post may add to his service qualifying for superannuation pension (but not for any other class of pension) the actual period not exceeding one-fourth of the length of his service or the actual period by which his age at the time of recruitment exceeds twenty-five years or a period of five years, whichever is least, if the service or post is one, - (a) for which post-graduate research or specialist qualification, or experience in scientific, technological or professional fields, is essential; and (b) to which candidates of more than twenty-five years of age are normally recruited; Provided that this concession shall not be admissible to any such Officer unless his actual qualifying service at the time he quits Government service is not less than ten years. Provided further that any such officer who is recruited at the age of thirty -five years or more may, within a period of three months, from the date of his appointment, elect to forego his rights to pensions whereupon he shall be eligible to subscribe to a Contributory Provident Fund. Note 1. The option once exercised shall be final. Note 2. The decision to grant the concession under this rule shall be taken by the Administrative Department at the time of recruitment in consultation with the Finance Department and the Public Service Commission. Note 1. The option once exercised shall be final. Note 2. The decision to grant the concession under this rule shall be taken by the Administrative Department at the time of recruitment in consultation with the Finance Department and the Public Service Commission. The consultation with Public Service Commission will be restricted to those posts only which fall within their purview. 2. This rule shall apply in respect of persons who are recruited after the 26th October, 1960.” 2. A perusal of the aforesaid rule makes it abundantly clear that the additional benefits envisaged therein are only available to an employee who is retired on “superannuation pension”. In order to substantiate the petitioner’s claim that he has actually and factually retired on superannuation pension, learned counsel for the petitioner has invited our attention to Rule 5.27 of the Punjab Civil Services Rules, Volume II Part I (as applicable to the State of Haryana), which reads as under :- 5.27 “A superannuation pension is granted to a Government employee entitled or required, by rule, to retire at a particular age. See Rule 3.26 of Volume I, Part I of these Rules. No claim to compensation from a Government employee who is required to retire at a particular age under rules will be entertained.” 3. Based on Rule 5.27 extracted above, it is the vehement contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that superannuation pension is not only the pension payable to an employee who is “required”, by rules, to retire at a particular age, but also includes the retirement of an employee as per his “entitlement” to retire at a particular age. It is, therefore, contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that retirement on superannuation and entitlement to superannuation pension should not only be considered as retirement on attaining the maximum age, till which an employee can continue in service as per the rules but also retirement at his own will in terms of the “entitlement” , envisaged by the same set of rules. Having sought retirement under Rule 5.32-B of the Punjab Civil Services Rules, Volume II Part I (as applicable to the State of Haryana), learned counsel for the petitioner asserts that the petitioner should be deemed to have retired on superannuation pension and as such, must be held to be entitled to the benefits arising out of Rule 4.2-A extracted above. 4. 4. Having examined the entire issue in its totality, we are satisfied that Rule 4.2-A of the Punjab Civil Services Rules, Volume II Part I would be applicable only to such cases where an employee retires after rendering service qualifying for superannuation pension. It will, therefore, have to be determined whether or not the petitioner retired on superannuation pension. In our view, the over-riding provision which has to be taken into consideration is Rule 5.1 of the Punjab Civil Services Rules, Volume II Part I (as applicable to State of Haryana), which is extracted hereunder :- 5.1 “Pensions are divided into four classes, the rules for which are prescribed in the following Sections of this Chapter :- (a) Compensation Pensions (See Section II) (b) Invalid Pensions (See Section III) (c) Superannuation Pensions (See Section IV) (d) Retiring Pensions (See Section V) Note. Besides the classes of pensions mentioned in this rule, special additional pensions are also granted to certain classes of Government employees under special circumstances (vide rules 4.14 and 6.15). 5. Rule 5.1-A extracted herein above envisages four different kinds of pensions, superannuation pension being one of them. It is clarified by the aforesaid rule that superannuation pension is only pension to which an employee is entitled in terms of the rules falling in Section 4 of Chapter 5 of Punjab Civil Services Rules, Volume II Part I. Suffice it to state that Section 4 of Chapter 5 commences from Rule 5.7 and concludes at Rule 5.30. The petitioner can be deemed to have retired on superannuation pension if he had either been retired by his employer or he has sought voluntary retirement on his own if permissible under the rules referred to herein above falling under Section 4 of Chapter 5. Incidentally, that is not the case set up by the petitioner himself. According to the petitioner, he sought voluntary retirement under Rule 5.32-A, which under Chapter 5, falls under Section 5. All retirees seeking pension falling under Section 5 are qualified for the receipt of “retiring pension” and not “superannuation pension”. 6. In view of the above, it is not possible for us to accept that the benefit of Rule 4.2-A, which is available only to persons retiring on superannuation pension, can be extended to the petitioner. 7. All retirees seeking pension falling under Section 5 are qualified for the receipt of “retiring pension” and not “superannuation pension”. 6. In view of the above, it is not possible for us to accept that the benefit of Rule 4.2-A, which is available only to persons retiring on superannuation pension, can be extended to the petitioner. 7. Even otherwise, we are satisfied that the petitioner has wrongfully relied upon Rule 5.27 to substantiate his claim, namely, that his retirement must be deemed to be on superannuation pension. This view of ours emerges from definition of superannuation pension expressed in Rule 5.27, which inter alia includes the entitlement of an employee to retire at a particular age. Rule 5.32-B, under which the petitioner has admittedly retired, does not envisage a specified age for retirement but envisages a number of years of qualifying service, on acquiring which, an employee may seek voluntary retirement. Thus, it is not possible for us to accept that retirement of the petitioner can be accepted to be the retirement on superannuation pension. Even otherwise, Rule 5.27 of Volume II Part I of Punjab Civil Services Rules (as applicable to the employees of State of Haryana) makes a reference to Rule 3.26 of Volume I Part I of the Punjab Civil Services Rules, which expresses an age of retirement and different contingencies attached thereto. Since there is no specified age of retirement under Rule 5.32-B, we are satisfied that the petitioner can not be deemed to have voluntarily retired on superannuation pension. Rule 5.32-B read with Rule 5.1 (both of Punjab Civil Services Rules, Volume II, Part I, as applicable to State of Haryana) would lead to an unambiguous conclusion that the petitioner has retired on “retiring pension”. 8. For the reasons recorded above, we find no merit in the instant writ petition and the same is, accordingly, dismissed.