Delhi High Court
Union Of India & Anr vs Sh. Raj Pal Singh Rana & Ors on 29 April, 2025
Author: Navin Chawla
Bench: Navin Chawla
$~5
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of decision: 29.04.2025
+ W.P.(C) 15941/2024 AND CM APPL. 15861/2025
UNION OF INDIA & ANR. .....Petitioners
Through: Ms. Sarika Singh, SPC.
versus
SH. RAJ PAL SINGH RANA & ORS. .....Respondents
Through: Mr. A K Behra, Sr. Advocate,
with Mr. Vaibhav Kalra and
Ms. Neha Bhatnagar,
Advocates.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAVIN CHAWLA
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE RENU BHATNAGAR
NAVIN CHAWLA, J. (ORAL)
1. This petition has been filed by the petitioners, challenging the
Order dated 16.01.2024 passed by the learned Central Administrative
Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as,
'Tribunal') in Original Application No. 2973/2019 titled Sh. Raj Pal
Singh Rana and Ors. v Union of India and Ors. (O.A.), allowing the
said O.A. filed by the respondents herein with the following
directions:
"4.2. In view of above the following directions
are issued:-
(i) The respondents shall consider for granting
pension to the present applicants taking the
combined service in DoT and MTNL in light of
the order dated 15.12.2023 in OA No.
1803/2018 passed by the Full Bench of this
Tribunal. They shall take appropriate decision
within a period of eight weeks from the date of
receipt of a certified copy of this order."
2. The learned Tribunal has passed the Impugned Order by placing
reliance upon a Full Bench decision dated 15.12.2023 of the learned
Tribunal in a batch of O.As., including the O.A. 2803/2018 titled Sh.
Vipin v. Union of India and Ors., which, in turn, had placed reliance
on the Order dated 16.11.2018 of this Court in Union of India and
Anr. v Smt. Asha Devi, passed in W.P.(C) 9070/2018.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the learned
Tribunal has failed to appreciate that in the Option Form that was
given to the respondents, there was a clear warning that in the case of
employees with less than 10 years of service, they shall be entitled
only to an amount equal to the Provident Fund contribution for the
period of their service under the Government, along with simple
interest at the rate of 6% per annum, on the opening balance in their
CPF account with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (hereinafter
referred to as, 'MTNL'). She further submits that despite this warning,
the respondents had still chosen option (a), that is, to retain pensionary
benefits from the Department of Telecommunication (hereinafter
referred to as, 'DoT') at the time of their absorption with the MTNL,
instead of their service with the DoT being counted for the ultimate
pensionary benefits that would be released by the MTNL. She
contends that the respondents were indeed paid this lump sum amount
at the time of their absorption.
4. We find that the above plea has not been raised by the
petitioners before the learned Tribunal at the time of the hearing of the
O.A. and the passing of the Impugned Order. The Impugned Order, in
fact, states that the learned counsel appearing for the respondents
therein had only sought an adjournment to seek further instructions on
the Judgment of the Full Bench of the learned Tribunal.
5. Further, the Option Form containing the above stated warning
has neither been placed before us nor does it appear to have been
placed before the learned Tribunal as well. The same is confirmed by
the learned Senior Counsel for the respondents.
6. We are of the opinion that given the above circumstances, the
petitioners cannot maintain the present petition. In case the petitioners
feel that the learned Tribunal has erred in not considering any
submission made by them before the learned Tribunal, their
appropriate remedy would be to approach the learned Tribunal in the
form of an appropriate application.
7. The petition along with the pending application is, accordingly,
disposed of with the above liberty.
8. However, we make it clear that we have not expressed any
opinion on the merits of the submissions made by the learned counsel
for the petitioners.
NAVIN CHAWLA, J
RENU BHATNAGAR, J
APRIL 29, 2025
p/kz/DG
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