Tribunal gives relief to Chandigarh health department medical officers seeking switch to OPS
Giving major relief to five Health Department medical officers, the Chandigarh bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has quashed the order dated August 11, 2022, whereby the Administration rejected their claim of switching over to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) from their initial dates of appointment following regularisation.
The five doctors, Dr Shvetambri Cheema, Dr Ravinderjit Singh Dr Sonia Arora, Dr Monika Shangari and Dr Anjali Gupta, had challenged the order through advocate Rishav Sharma. They prayed before the Tribunal to declare them entitled to be switched over to OPS with all benefits as they were appointed prior to 2004.
The doctors in the plea said they were appointed against the regular sanctioned posts of Assistant Medical Officers on different dates from 1997 to 2002 on contractual basis after fulfilling all the required qualifications.
Since their appointment on the contract basis was in violation of the law as they were selected through proper selection, they approached the Tribunal for regularisation.
The Tribunal decided the case in their favour and directed the UT to regularise them on completion of 10 years.
They argued as their initial appointment was as per law, the service rendered by them prior to regularisation on contract basis was countable for the purpose of pensionary benefits for switching over to OPS under Punjab pension rules upto March 2022 and thereafter as per the CCS pension rules 1972 applicable from April 01, 2022. They prayed before the Tribunal to quash the order dated August 11, 2022, and be declared entitled for OPS with all benefits
The counsel for the applicants relied upon various judgments including a judgement of apex court in case of State of Himachal Pradesh vs Sheela Devi pronounced in 2023 when the court held that contractual service of the petitioner was countable as qualifying service for the purpose of pension.
After hearing the arguments, the Tribunal said, “Iin view of the discussion we find no force to the plea of the respondents. The issue herein is no longer res integra in terms of the judgment of Apex Court. This application is disposed of in terms of the ratio of judgment dated August 07, 2023, passed by Apex Court. The order dated August 11, 2022, is hereby quashed and set aside, being illegal. The respondents are directed to carry out the necessary exercise and complete the process within a period of three months.”
