Allahabad High Court
Amar Nath Singh vs State Of U.P. And 6 Others on 5 August, 2021
Bench: Yashwant Varma
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 34
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 4118 of 2021
Petitioner :- Amar Nath Singh
Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 6 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- P.K. Upadhyay,Vikram Yadav
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Yashwant Varma,J.
Heard learned counsel for the parties.
The claim of the petitioner is for release of retiral benefits in light of the provisions made in the U.P. State Aided Education Institutions Employees' Contributory Provident Fund- Insurance-Pension, Rules, 1964. According to learned counsel, the claim of retiral dues is liable to be considered in light of the decision rendered by the Court in Sri Krishna Prasad Yadav & Others Vs. State of U.P. & Others [2015 (2) ADJ 663]. In Sri Krishna Prasad Yadav the Court had an occasion to notice the provisions of the 1964 Rules as well as the right of employees working in primary sections of the educational institutions and required the State to count the services rendered in primary sections for the purpose of computing qualifying service. In Sri Krishna Prasad Yadav the Court ultimately held thus:-
"The category of Institutions referred in Rule 3 clearly include Primary Sections. It is the undisputed position that the Institutions in which the petitioners were serving had Primary Sections and even though run by Private Management were recognized for the purposes of payment of grant-in-aid. These Rules did not prescribe a cut off date for the purposes of a person becoming eligible for grant of pension thereunder. In fact, Rule 4(b) clearly throws light on this aspect of the matter when it grants an option to existing members in permanent service to opt and elect to be governed by these Rules. The Rules themselves came into effect from 1.10.1964 and would, therefore, be applicable to all thereof. Insofar as the aspect of deposit of management contribution as envisaged under the said Rule is concerned, this Court had already struck down the cut of date of 31st March, 2002 as prescribed by the Government Order dated 26.07.2001 in Smt. Shanti Solanki Vs. State of U.P. and Others passed in W.P. No. 75746 of 2006 and the said decision has been consistently followed in various other cases decided by this Court including W.P. No. 17033 of 2012, Lal Chand Singh Vs. State of U.P. And Others. About the payment of pension being governed solely by the provisions of the Rules 1964, this Court is of the opinion that its applicability could not have been eclipsed or in any manner straddled over by the Government Order dated 20th January, 2004. This Court is in agreement with the judgment rendered by a learned Single Judge in Mangali Prasad (supra) on the issue that merely because there was delay in issuing appropriate clarifications with regard to the applicability of the Rules to Primary Sections, the same could not have denuded the petitioners of their right to claim pension under the Rules 1964. It is further relevant to note here that the Primary Section was an integral part of the Institution and the teachers attached thereto could not have been discriminated for the purposes of payment of pension merely because they came on to grant-in-aid list w.e.f. 1.10.1989. In the opinion of the Court, there is no provision under the Rules 1964 which curtails the computation of length of qualifying service to the time when the Primary Sections became or came under the grant-in-aid list."
The aforesaid decision has been affirmed by the Division Bench in Special Appeal Defective No.288 of 2016 decided on 24 May 2017.
In view of the aforesaid, this petition shall stand disposed of with a direction to the fourth respondent to duly consider the claim of the petitioner for release of pensionary benefits bearing in mind the judgment rendered in Sri Krishna Prasad Yadav. The fourth respondent shall endeavour to communicate a final decision with expedition and preferably within a period of two months from the date of presentation of a duly authenticated copy of this order.
Order Date :- 5.8.2021
Rakesh
