High Court of Punjab and HaryanaCWP/20789/2019allowed

Manpreet Singh And ORS v. State Of Punjab And Others

2023-05-02Mr. Justice Pankaj Jain13 pages

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA

AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision : 2nd of May, 2023 CWP-20789-2019 Manpreet Singh and others ....Petitioners

Versus

State of Punjab and others

...Respondents

CWP-20791-2019 Sukhdev Singh and others ....Petitioners

Versus

State of Punjab and others

...Respondents

CWP-20761-2019 (O&M) Gurjit Singh and others ....Petitioners

Versus

State of Punjab and others

...Respondents

CWP-21721-2019 Pala and others ....Petitioners

Versus

State of Punjab and others

...Respondents

CWP-20615-2010 (O&M) Jagjit Singh and others ....Petitioners

Versus

State of Punjab and others

...Respondents

CWP-23332-2019 Husan Lal and another ....Petitioners

Versus

State of Punjab and others

...Respondents

CWP-21842-2019 Rakesh Kumar and others ....Petitioners

Versus

State of Punjab and others

...Respondents

CWP-20641-2019 Roshan Lal and others others ....Petitioners

Versus

State of Punjab and others

...Respondents

CWP-23205-2019 Balbir Singh and another ....Petitioners

Versus

State of Punjab and others

...Respondents

CWP-21623-2019 (O&M) Mangat Ram and others ....Petitioners

Versus

State of Punjab and others

...Respondents

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PANKAJ JAIN Present :

Mr. R.K. Arora, Advocate and Ms. Saguna Arora, Advocate for the petitioner(s). Mr. Sanjeev Roy, Advocate for the petitioners in CWP-20615-2010.

Mr. Inderpreet S. Kang, Asstt. Advocate General, Punjab. Mr. Baltej S. Sidhu, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Divij Datt, Advocate for respondent No.3 in CWP-20615-2010.

Mr. Neeraj Yadav, Advocate for respondent No.4 in CWP-20789-2019.

Mr. R.S. Modi, Advocate for respondent No.4 in CWP-21842-2019.

Ms. Deepali Puri, Advocate for respondent No.4 in CWP-20641-2019.

Mr. G.S. Attariwala, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Vansh Chawla, Advocate and Mr. Sourabh Singla, Advocate for respondent No.4 in CWP-21721-2019.

Mr. D.V. Sharma, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Tushar Sharma, Advocate for respondents No.4 & 5 in CWP-23332-2019.

Mr. Karan Vir Singh, Advocate for respondent No.4 in CWP-20791-2019.

Mr. Aditya Sharma, Advocate for respondent No.4 in CWP Nos.20761 & 21623 of 2019. PANKAJ JAIN, J.

In this batch of writ petitions, the petitioners are all employees of Municipal Committees/Municipal Corporations who were employed prior to 1st of January, 2004 but were regularized after 1st of January, 2004. By way of present writ petitions they claim their rights to be governed by the Punjab Municipal Employees Pension and General Provident Fund Rules, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as '1994 Rules') and not by the Contributory Pension Fund Scheme as promulgated w.e.f. 1st of January, 2004.

Replies on behalf of respondent No.4 in CWP-23205-2019 and

in CWP-21721-2019 respectively have been filed in Court today. The same are taken on record.

The reliance has been placed upon Division Bench of this Court in CWP No.2371 of 2010 titled as Harbans Lal vs. State of Punjab and others (Annexure P-4) as upheld by Apex Court in SLP No.1150 of 2012 vide order dated 30th of July, 2012 and further order passed by Apex Court dated 4th of November, 2015 on review petition preferred by the State which was dismissed observing as under :-

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The issue thus involved in all the writ petitions is : 'whether the

petitioners who was in service prior to 1st of January, 2004 but regularized thereafter would be governed by New Contributory Pension Fund Scheme which became applicable after 1st of January, 2004 or they would be governed by Pension Rules in vogue prior to 1st of January, 2004?'. 5.

The similar issue has already been dealt with by this Court in detail in CWP No.26858 of 2017 titled as Heera Singh vs. State of Punjab and others & other connected writ petitions, wherein this Court held as under :-

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Questions framed hereinabove in Para 3 and Para 14 are answered in favour of the petitioners. It is held that the covenant contained in the offer of regular appointment to the petitioners cannot take away the rights vested in them under 1994 Rules read with Punjab Civil Services Rules and they shall be governed by the Old Pension Rules as in terms of amendment carried out in PCS Rules, Rule 1 Volume 1 Part 1 dated 2nd of March, 2004 the pension rules contained therein shall not apply to employees appointed to posts after 1st of January, 2004. The petitioners being appointees under Corporation prior to 1st of January, 2004 remain unaffected. Their rights shall be governed by 1994 Rules." 6.

Mr. D.V. Sharma, Ld. Senior Advocate representing respondents No.4 and 5 in CWP No.23332 of 2019 however submits that 1994 Rules are not applicable upon work-charged employees and those who

are paid out of contingencies or who are employed on contract basis and thus these employees cannot claim benefits under the said Rules. He refers to Rule 1(4) of 1994 Rules which reads as under :- 1(4) They shall not apply to the employees, who, - (a) opt out of these rules;

(b) are members of All India Service or the Punjab Civil Service;

(d) are work-charged employees;

(e) are employed after superannuation;

(f) are employed on contract basis, except when the contract provides otherwise; and (g) are specifically excluded wholly or partly from the operation of these rules;

Rule 2(j) defines qualifying service as under :- "2(j) 'qualifying service' means the service rendered under a committee for which an employee is paid from the municipal fund and shall include any service rendered under the Government of Punjab, an Improvement Trust, a Corporation or any other Public Sector Undertaking immediately before joining the service;"

Definitely the employee working on work-charge basis, the one who has opted out of 1994 Rules, the one who has been paid out of contingencies, contractual employee, employed after superannuation etc. as contemplated under Rule 1(4) cannot claim pension under these Rules. However, the employee working on regular basis with Municipal Bodies would definitely be covered under these Rules and for counting of

qualifying service and the same would be governed by definition thereof under Rule 2(J). Rule 2(J) does not distinguish between service rendered under a Committee on work-charged basis or on contract basis. Once an employee becomes eligible under the Rules to get pension, service rendered by him under a Committee for which he is paid from the Municipal Fund would be counted as qualifying service. The same shall also include any service rendered under the Government of Punjab, Improvement Trust, a Corporation or any other Public Sector Undertaking before he joined the service under the control of Municipal Body.

In view of above, the argument raised by Mr. Sharma cannot be accepted and is rejected being without merit. 9.

Consequently, the present writ petition is allowed in terms of CWP No.26858 of 2017 titled as Heera Singh vs. State of Punjab and others (supra).

10.

Pending application(s), if any, shall also stand disposed off. 11.

A copy of this order be kept on the files of other connected cases.

/ +*)*+*$

1 0 Whether speaking/reasoned :

Yes/No Whether reportable :

Yes/No