Civil Writ Petition No. 11563 of 1998 1 In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, at Chandigarh. Civil Writ Petition No. 11563 of 1998 Date of Decision: 15.12.2008 Professor (Dr.) Kehar Singh …Petitioner Versus Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Others …Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA. Present: Dr. M.S.Rahi, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. D.S.Patwalia, Advocate for the respondents. Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, J. (Oral) The present writ petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution for issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari seeking quashing of order (Annexure P9) passed by respondent No.1 on the direction of respondents No.2 and 3 whereby the petitioner has been denied benefit of addition of five years of service for computation of pension as per the provisions of Rule 4.2(A) of the Punjab Civil Services (Pension) Rules (Volume-II), as adopted by the University under Rule 10 of Guru Nanak Dev University Calendar Volume I Act & Statutes, 2007. Petitioner Kehar Singh had retired as Professor and Director of Computer Science from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (hereinafter referred to as “the University”). Though it is not averred but Civil Writ Petition No. 11563 of 1998 2 Dr. M.S.Rahi, Advocate, appearing for the petitioner has stated that the petitioner was born on 15.10.1933. Case of the petitioner is that he was appointed as a Reader in Mathematics on 8.10.1970 and he retired as Professor of Mathematics and Director of Computer Sciences on 31.12.1993 on attaining the age of superannuation. When the petitioner retired, at that time employees of the University were governed by Contributory Provident Fund Scheme. The University framed its Pension Statutes in 1994 and commenced disbursement of pension to its employees in lieu of Contributory Provident Fund. The petitioner also become eligible and had returned this Contributory Provident Fund collections along with interest as directed by the University. The case of the petitioner is that he did his Graduation in the year 1955. Thereafter he obtained Post Graduation in Mathematics in 1958 with distinction. Then he got himself involved in the research in the field of Propagation of Elastic Waves in In-homogeneous Media with special reference to Theoretical Seismology and was awarded Ph.D. By Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra in 1969. Petitioner claimed that in view of Rule 4.2A of Punjab Civil Services (Pension) Rules (Volume-II) adopted by the University under Rule 10 of the Guru Nanak Dev University Calendar Volume I Act & Statutes, 2007, work rendered by him on various research projects and for doing Post Graduation, is entitled to be counted for maximum of five years for computation of pension. Rule 4.2 of the Punjab Civil Services (Pension) Rules (Volume- II) read as under:- 4.2. (1) A Government employee appointed to a Civil Writ Petition No. 11563 of 1998 3 service or post after the twenty- sixth day of October , 1960 , shall be eligible to add to his service qualifying for superannuation pension but not for any other class of pension ) the actual period not exceeding one – forth of the length of his service or the actual period by which his age at the time of recruitment exceeded twenty – five years , or a period of five years, whichever is less, if the service or post to which no Government employee is appointed is one- ( a ) or which post – graduate research or specialist qualification, or experience in scientific, technological or professional fields, is essential; and b) to which candidates of more than twenty – five years of age are normally recruited; Provided that this concession shall not be admissible to a Government employee unless his actual qualifying service at the time he quits Government service is not less than ten years : Provided further that this concession shall Civil Writ Petition No. 11563 of 1998 4 be admissible only if the recruitment rules in respect of the said service or post contain a specific provision that the service or post in one which carries the benefit of this rule . (2) Government employee who is recruited at the age of thirty – five years or more, may within a period of three months from the date of his appointment elect to forego his right to pension whereupon he shall be eligible to subscribe to a Contributory Provident Fund . (3) The option referred to in sub – rule ( 2 ) once exercised, shall be final. (4) A Government employee, who is blind, deaf, dumb or otherwise orthopaedically handicapped or widow at the time of his entry into Government service, shall be eligible to add to his service qualifying for sperannuation pension a period of five years . Dr. Rahi has also read Pension Statutes of Guru Nanak Dev University as contained in Guru Nanak Dev University Calendar Volume-I Acts and Statutes, 2007. Rule 10 reads as under:- 10. Subject to the statutes above, the rules framed by the Punjab government relating Civil Writ Petition No. 11563 of 1998 5 to Pension Scheme for their employees including Commuted Pension, Pre-mature retirement pension, family pension etc. along with amendments made from time to time be adopted, in so far as the same are not inconsistent with the above Statutes”. It has been further averred that in consonance with Rule 4.2 of the Punjab Civil Services (Pension) Rules (Volume-II), Rule 11(c)(1) of Guru Nanak Dev University Calendar Volume-I Acts and Statutes, 2007 has been adopted and the same reads as under:- “11(c)(1) A University employee appointed to a service of post after the twenty-sixth day of October 1960shall be eligible to add to his service qualifying for superannuation pension (but not for any other class of pension) the actual period not exceeding one fourth of the length of his service or the actual period by which his age at the time of recruitment exceeded twenty-five years or a period of five years, whichever is less if the service or post to which the University employee is appointed is one: (a) for which Post- Graduate/Research Degree or specialist qualification or experience in scientific Civil Writ Petition No. 11563 of 1998 6 technological or professional fields is essential; and (b) to which candidates of more than twenty-five years of age are normally recruited; Provided that this concession shall not be admissible to a University employee unless his actual qualifying service at the time he quits University service is not less than ten years. Provided further that this concession shall be admissible only if the recruitment rules in respect of the said service or post contain a specific provision that the service or post is one which carries the benefit of this rule”. The petitioner filed an application to the University Authorities (Annexure P6) and stated therein that as per Punjab Civil Services (Pension) Rules (Volume-II), para 4 (2), he be granted additional benefit of five years towards qualifying service for computation of pension. A reply was given by the Deputy Registrar (Establishment) that case for giving benefit of five years additional service in calculating his pension was put before the Audit. Petitioner again on 20.2.1996 submitted a reminder that his pension be determined in accordance with Rule 4.2(a) of the Punjab Civil Services (Pension) Rules (Volume-II) and Rule 11(c)(1) of the Guru Nanak Dev University Calendar Volume I Act & Civil Writ Petition No. 11563 of 1998 7 Statutes, 2007. Reply was sent to the petitioner from the Deputy Registrar (Establishment) and the same read as under:- “Shri Kehar Singh, Professor (Maths) is not fulfilling the conditions stipulated in Rule 4.2 of the Punjab Civil Services Rules, Volume-1. So, the addition of five years in qualifying the service cannot be admitted in Audit”. Dr. M.S.Rahi, Advocate, appearing for the petitioner has stated that as per Rule 4.2 and Rule 10 of the Pension Statutes of the University especially in conjunction with Rule 11(c)(1) of Guru Nanak Dev University Calendar Volume I Act & Statutes, 2007, five years service of the petitioner is to be counted towards the determination of pension. Mr. D.S.Patwalia, Advocate, appearing for the respondent- University, has highlighted the proviso to Section 11(c)(1) of Guru Nanak Dev University Calendar Volume I Act & Statutes, 2007 and second proviso to Punjab Civil Services (Pension) Rules (Volume-II) as noticed in para 4.2. He has stated that this concession is only admissible if the recruitment rules in respect of the said service or post contain a specific provision that the service or post in one which carries the benefit of this rule. Recruitment Rules of University have not been placed on record. It will be too technical to deny the member of faculty benefit of provisions of Punjab Civil Service (Pension) Rules (Volume-II) as noticed in Section 4.2 and 11(c)(1) of Guru Nanak Dev University Calendar Volume I Act & Statutes, 2007, on the ground that recruitment rules did not contain such a provision. This beneficial provision was only made for the members of the faculty of the University who put in their time and Civil Writ Petition No. 11563 of 1998 8 energy in research and equip themselves with better education based on research for imparting learning. For acquiring education and learning and then teaching, there always ought to be premium and no discount can be provided by the Institution who are wedded to the cause of education. In the present case, no conscious decision has been taken by the University. It has relied upon the audit objection. The person raising the audit objection has done so in a mechanical manner without looking into as to why these provisions were adopted. Therefore, the highest quarters of the University in whom a decision making power vest should take a conscious decision as to whether the Professors, Readers or members of the faculty who had spent their considerable time in acquiring education are to be given benefit of these provisions or not. A decision shall be taken by the University within three months from the date of receipt of copy of this order. Learned counsel for the petitioner has also relied upon judgment rendered in Union of India v. S. Dharmalingam 1994(1) Service Cases Today 663. The Authorities shall also take the ratio of this judgment into consideration while taking the decision. (Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia) Judge December 15, 2008 “DK”