The Punjab and Haryana High Court has delivered a landmark ruling that employees who rendered long, uninterrupted service on a part-time, temporary, or contractual basis before regularisation are entitled to have that service counted as qualifying service for pension. Once such service is reckoned, the employees cannot be denied the benefit of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) merely because their regularisation occurred after the introduction of the New Pension Scheme (NPS).
Court's decision on 95 writ petitions
Justice Harpreet Singh Brar passed the order while disposing of a batch of 95 writ petitions through a common judgment. The petitions were divided into two categories. The first category comprised employees who were initially appointed on part-time, temporary, or contractual terms before January 1, 2006, but were regularised later. They sought counting of their pre-regularisation service for pension purposes. The second category involved employees claiming OPS benefits under the Haryana Government's Office Memorandum dated May 8, 2023, on the ground that they had been appointed against posts advertised before the NPS was introduced.
Advocate Himanshu Malik, appearing for the petitioners in one of the matters, argued that the petitioners' pre-regularisation service could not be ignored while determining their pensionary entitlement. He cited the settled legal position governing qualifying service and the state's own policy framework.
Rejection of state's contention
The court rejected the state's argument that the Punjab Civil Services Rules excluded part-time service from qualifying service for pension. Justice Brar noted that the issue was already concluded by a Division Bench judgment in the case of State of Haryana versus Jai Bhagwan. The Supreme Court, while dismissing the state's Special Leave Petition, had kept the question of law open, but the Division Bench judgment continued to hold the field and remained binding on the High Court unless overruled or distinguished by a larger Bench.
Referring to a specific case, Justice Brar observed that one petitioner had rendered continuous service from February 15, 2002, on a part-time basis and served without interruption for over a decade before being regularised on May 16, 2016. The court stated that excluding such valuable service would result in manifest injustice.
Waiver argument dismissed
The bench also rejected the argument that employees had accepted the applicability of the NPS by signing regularisation or appointment orders. The court held that such acceptance could not amount to a waiver of statutory or constitutional rights, particularly where the employee had no real bargaining power and acceptance was necessary to secure regular employment. Justice Brar ruled: "Mere acceptance of such terms cannot operate as a waiver of statutory or constitutional rights, particularly where the employee had no real bargaining power and the acceptance was a condition precedent for securing regular employment."
Category I employees entitled to OPS
The bench held that petitioners in Category I were entitled to have their pre-regularisation service counted as qualifying service for pension. Once such past service is taken into account, the state cannot deny them OPS benefits merely because regularisation took place after the NPS introduction. The court quashed the impugned orders that denied pensionary benefits under OPS and directed the respondents to count the past service rendered by the petitioners on a part-time, temporary, or contractual basis prior to their regularisation as qualifying service. The court ordered that consequential pensionary and retiral benefits under OPS, along with arrears, be released within six weeks from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the order.
Category II employees get OPS option
Referring to the second category, the court asserted that those petitioners were entitled to the benefit of the May 8, 2023 office memorandum. They were directed to exercise their option to switch to the Old Pension Scheme within six weeks from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the order. Upon receipt of options, the respondents must process the claims and release consequential pensionary and retiral benefits under OPS, along with arrears, within a further period of six weeks.
This ruling provides significant relief to thousands of Haryana state employees who were regularised after the NPS cut-off date but had long prior service on temporary or contractual terms.
