IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION NO : 11304 of 2006 Between: Khaja Mazaharuddin, S/o. Shaik DadeMiyam, RG-II Area Workship, Singareni Colleries Company Ltd., R/o. Gandhinagar, Godavarikhani, Karimnagar District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Singareni Collieries company Ltd., RG-II Area, Godavarikhani, Karimnagar District, rep. by its General Manager. 2 The Regional Commissioner, Coal Mines Provident Fund, Municipal Council Bulding, Godavarikhani Karimnagar District. 3 The Joint Commissioner, Coal Mines Provident Fund, Division_II, Post Jari Patka, Nagpur-440 014. .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ or order or di recti on especiallyone in the natureof writ of Mandamus; i) declare the impugned proceeding No. CDF/Hyd/Pen/333/Rg-II/03- 04/5728 dt. 12.3.2004 issued by the 2nd respondent and Proc. No.CDF/Div: II/Pension Adalat/540 dt. 3.1.2005 issued by the 3rd respondent as illegal and arbitrary and set-a side the same. ii) consequently direct the respondents to ﬁx and release petitioners pension w.e.f. October 2003, duly granting all other consequential benefits. Counsel for the Petitioner : MR.K.VASUDEVA REDDY Counsel for the Respondents : MR.N.KRISHNA RAO The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU W.P.No.11304 of 2006 ORAL ORDER: This writ petition is ﬁled being aggrieved by the order dated 12.3.2004 and the subsequent proceedings dated 3.1.2005 issued by the respondents 2 and 3 respectively. Under the impugned order dated 12.3.2004, the Deputy General Manager, ATB Cell, SCCL, RG-II Area, Godavarikhani, Karimnagar was informed by Assistant Commissioner-I, Coal Mines Provident Fund, Kothapet, Hyderabad that petitioner was not a member of family pension scheme, 1971 and has not exercised his option in PS-1 to join in new Pension Scheme, 1998, as per the oﬃce records, as such, he is not entitled to pension scheme. Further, petitioner received a communication from the Joint Commissioner, Coal Mines Provident Fund, Nagpur on 3.1.2005 stating that since he did not exercise his option within the stipulated period, he is not entitled to claim pension under the scheme. This is the only ground on which the case of the petitioner was not considered for pension under the pension scheme, but the fact remains that the employer deducted the amounts from the salary of the petitioner as required under the scheme and remitted the same to respondents 2 and 3 regularly every month. The petitioner, on attaining the age of superannuation, retired from service in the year 2003. When the petitioner requested for payment of pension, he was denied of the same for the above said reasons. I am of the considered opinion that when once the ﬁrst respondent deducted the amounts every month from the salary of the petitioner and remitted the same to the respondents 2 and 3, it must be deemed that the petitioner has exercised his option to come into pension scheme. Simply because, option forms are not available, petitioner cannot be blamed for the same since, there is no dispute as to the deduction of amounts and remitting the same to the respondents 2 and 3 regularly without any break, which itself shows that the petitioner has exercised his option to come into pension scheme. Therefore, whether the option forms are available or not and whether the option was really exercised or not, are not relevant for the purpose of considering payment of pension. The substantial requirement is deduction of amount every month from the salary of petitioner and remitting the same to respondents 2 and 3, which fact is not in dispute. Under those circumstances, the impugned orders are set aside and the respondents are directed to consider and settle the pension of the petitioner treating that the petitioner has already exercised option under Coal Mines Pension Scheme 1998, and pass appropriate orders, as per law, within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of this order. If any amounts returned, the same shall be re-remitted to the respondents 2 and 3 and on such remittance, petitioner’s case shall be considered for settlement of pension. The writ petition is accordingly allowed. No order as to costs. ____________ C.V.RAMULU, J Date: 24.9.2008 Note: Issue C.C. in (3) days. B/o DA