CWP No.16914 of 2009 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No.16914 of 2009 Date of decision : 29-11-2011 Gainda Ram .... Petitioner VERSUS State of Haryana and others ....Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER Present: Mr. S.S. Dinarpur, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. Harish Rathee, Sr. DAG, Haryana, for the respondent-State. MAHESH GROVER, J. (Oral) The petitioner prays that he be given retiral benefits after counting the service that he had rendered with the respondents on daily wage basis. According to the facts which have been set up, the petitioner joined the services of the respondent on 07.09.1989 on daily wage basis and continued as such till the time his services were regularized on 29.05.1996 w.e.f. 01.02.1996. He superannuated on 30.04.2002 and thus prays that his period of service rendered by him w.e.f. 07.09.1989 to 01.02.1996 be counted for the purposes of qualifying service for grant of pension. The claim of the petitoner has been denied with reference to rule 6.16(i) & (ii) of Civil Services Rules Vol. II which is to the following effect:- “In the case of a Govt. Employee retiring in accordance with the provisions of these rules before completing qualifying service of CWP No.16914 of 2009 -2- these rules before completing qualifying service of ten years, the amount of service gratuity shall be the appropriate amount as set out in the table below, and no additional or special additional pension shall be granted to him." On due consideration of the matter, I am of the opinion that the reasoning adopted by the respondents in denying the pension of the petitioner while not counting the period of service of petitioner on daily wage basis is erroneous. Rule 3.17 of the Civil Services Rules is reproduced below:- "3.17 In the case of an officer retiring on or after 5th January, 1961, was holding substantively a permanent post on the date of his retirement, his temporary or officiating service under the State Government, followed without interruption by confirmation in the same or another post, shall count in full as qualifying service except in respect of:- (i)periods of temporary or officiating service in non-pensionable establishment. (ii) (Deleted) (iii) periods of service paid from contingencies. Note 1. In the case of a Central Government employee who is permanently transferred to Haryana Government and becomes subject to these rules, under rule 1.1(b) of these rules, the term “continuous temporary service or continuous service”, shall include such service rendered under Central Government. Note 2. In case of a purely temporary Central Government employee who is permanently transferred to Haryana Government and becomes subject to these rules, the term “continuous temporary service” includes the temporary service under the Central Government. The pensionary liability in respect of such cases shall be allocated on the length of service. Note 3. (a) In respect of temporary employees of the following categories who render service under the Central/State Governments prior CWP No.16914 of 2009 -3- to securing posts under the Central/State Governments, on their own volition in response to advertisements or circulars, including those by Union/State Public Service Commission and who are eventually confirmed in their new posts, the proportionate pensionary liability in respect of temporary service rendered under the Central/State Governments to the extent such service would have qualified for grant of pension under the rules of the respective Government, will be shared by the concerned Government on a service share basis: - (1) Those who having been retrenched from the service of Central/State Governments secured on their own employment under State/Central Government either with or without interruption between the date of retrenchments and date of new appointment. (2) Those who while holding temporary posts under Central/State Governments apply for posts under State/Central Government through proper channel/with proper permission of the administrative authority concerned. Explanation: Where an employee in category (2) is required for administrative reasons for satisfying technical requirement, to tender resignation from the temporary post held by him before joining the new appointment, a certificate to the effect that such resignation had been tendered for administrative reasons and/or to satisfy a technical requirement, to join, with proper permission, the new posts, may be issued by the authority accepting the resignation. A record of this certificate may also be made in his service book under proper attestation to enable him to get this benefit at the time of retirement. The gratuity, if any, received by the Government employee for temporary service under the Central/State Governments will, however, have to be refunded by him to the Government concerned. (b) Those employees who while holding temporary posts under Central/State Governments apply for post under Central/State Governments direct without permission and resign their previous post to join the new appointment under the Central/State Governments will not be entitled to count their CWP No.16914 of 2009 -4- previous service for pension." This Court in a decision rendered in the case of Kesar Chand & others v. State of Punjab & others, P.L.R. 1988 (2) 223 while interpreting Rule 3.17 had held that even work charged employees are entitled to get their service rendered by them on work charged basis counted towards the computation of pension. On the parity of the aforesaid judgment, there is no reason as to why the service rendered by the petitioner on daily wage basis uninterruptedly from 07.09.1989 till the date of his regularization be not considered for qualifying service so as to enable him to get pension. The petitioner has also pleaded that similarly situated persons have been granted the benefit with specific reference to Annexure P-3 which have not been specifically denied by the respondents. There is thus no reason to deny the similar benefit to the petitioner. Accordingly, the writ petition is accepted and the respondents are directed to count the service rendered by the petitioner on daily wage basis from 07.09.1989 till 01.02.1996 so as to ensure his admissibility to pension. The needful be done as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of six months from today. (MAHESH GROVER) 29-11-2011 JUDGE manju