1 S.B.CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.3450/2008 Radhey Shyam Vs. State of Raj. & Ors. Date of Order :: 30.7.2008 HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GOVIND MATHUR Mr. S.N. Trivedi, for the petitioner. Mr. P.K. Lohra, for the respondents. ... The petitioner, an employee of Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation, was dismissed from service on 31.7.1996 on being convicted in a criminal case relating to the offence under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, however, he stood acquitted by this Court on acceptance of an appeal by the judgment dated 30.9.1996. On acquittal the respondent-Corporation reinstated the petitioner in service on 4.8.2000. The respondent-Corporation introduced a pension scheme during the period the petitioner was out of employment, and as per the provisions of the Scheme aforesaid, the petitioner was entitled to opt for pension within a period of one month from the date of his reinstatement i.e. 4.8.2000. The petitioner instead of submitting option within a month, submitted the same on 15.11.2000, thus, that was not accepted by the respondents. A petition for writ, therefore, was preferred by the petitioner and that came to be disposed of on 26.2.2008 with the directions as follows: “ I have considered the rival submissions. I am not inclined to go into the merit of the case at this stage but then looking to the facts and circumstances, I feel it 2 appropriate to remit the case back to the respondents for necessary consideration of the prayer of the petitioner for giving him chance of submission of option in the circumstances explained and that too as an exceptional case. The petitioner is accordingly directed to submit a representation to the respondents who would then decide the matter with sympathetic consideration within the period of two months from the date of submission of representation by the petitioner” In pursuant to the directions above the Dy. General Manager (Finance & Pension) of the respondent-Corporation by the communication dated 6.5.2008 informed the petitioner that despite sympathetic consideration the request for grant of pension could not be decided favourably. Being aggrieved by the same this petition for writ is preferred. The contention of learned counsel for the petitioner is that though the respondents in their communication dated 6.5.2008 have stated that the claim of the petitioner was considered sympathetically, however, no reason is given as to how the acceptance of the option submitted by him was not possible. As per learned counsel for the respondent-Corporation claim of the petitioner was denied being not submitted within the limitation prescribed. Heard counsel for the parties. 3 The reason given to reject the option given by the petitioner was available with the respondents even at the time of disposal of the earlier writ petition i.e. SBCW No.4732/2006, but the Court chose to give a specific direction to the respondents to consider claim of the petitioner sympathetically meaning thereby the expectation of the Court was that the respondents will ignore the technicalities while considering case of the petitioner for grant of pension. Pension, as a matter of fact, is nothing but a social security provided to its employees by the employer. The Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation is a public undertaking, and therefore, the considerations of it should be objective and in general in favour of securing social justice that includes extension of social security to its employees. It is true that the petitioner submitted his option at a belated stage, however, the petitioner remained without employment for years together and even after acquittal in the year 1996 he was reinstated in the year 2000, thus, in such circumstances a little human error is obvious. Such error requires condonation. In peculiar facts of the case, I consider it appropriate to direct the respondent-Corporation to accept the option submitted by the petitioner for the grant of pension and to make application of the same upon him. The petition for writ is disposed of accordingly. (GOVIND MATHUR), J. Jgoyal '