The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in Ahmedabad has ordered Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to pay salary to an employee who was prematurely retired after being diagnosed with a mental illness, until his actual retirement age. The tribunal quashed BSNL's decision to compulsorily retire the employee from the post of junior telecom officer, ruling that the protections under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, override the company's service rules on premature retirement.
Case Background
The employee joined BSNL Ahmedabad in 1985. During his service, he was assessed with a 60% disability due to a mental illness. In 2019, BSNL prematurely retired him under Rule 55(A)(1)(i) of the BSNL CDA Rules, 2006. The employee approached the CAT, arguing that he had acquired a disability while in service and was thus protected under Section 20 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, which prohibits a government establishment from terminating an employee who acquires a disability during service.
CAT's Observations
BSNL contested the application, but after hearing the case, the CAT's coram, comprising Jayesh Bhairavia and Dr Hukum Singh Meena, noted that BSNL had been aware of the employee's mental illness since 2007. Mental check-ups and issuance of disability certificates occurred in 2008 and 2014. The review committee described him as mentally unfit, and later medical documentation showed a 60% permanent disability related to his brain.
The tribunal stated that once it was established that the employee acquired a disability during service, the provisions of the Disabilities Act would apply. If he was unsuitable for his existing post, BSNL should have shifted him to another post with the same pay and benefits or kept him on a supernumerary post until superannuation.
Order and Directives
While quashing BSNL's decision to prematurely retire the employee, who is now 58 years old, CAT directed: The Respondents (BSNL) are directed to notionally treat the applicant in service on supernumerary post from the date of his compulsory retirement to the date of actual superannuation as per the provisions laid down in Sub section 4 of Section 20 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. He would be entitled to receive all the benefits which he would have been entitled to, if he were in service until the age he reached the age of superannuation.
The bench further clarified: We made it clear that if the applicant is already paid benefits under DCRG, then the balance salary benefit and balance benefits, if any, will be paid to him as per rules.
