Punjab and Haryana High Court: Staff selected before NPS implementation entitled to OPS
Saurabh Malik
Chandigarh, July 21
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that employees selected before the New Pension Scheme’s implementation in January 2004 but appointed afterwards are entitled to be considered under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).
The ruling by Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi is significant as it made it clear that the applicable pension scheme would be determined by the advertisement and selection dates, and not the appointment date.
The observation
Once it is a conceded fact that the petitioner was appointed to the post that was advertised in 2001 and his selection was also made prior to January 1, 2004,… he is entitled to be considered under the Old Pension Scheme. Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi, punjab and haryana high court
The ruling came on a petition filed against the State of Punjab and another respondent by Sheeru through counsel Puneet Gupta. Appearing before Justice Sethi’s bench, he contended that the post against which the petitioner was appointed was advertised in 2001 and selection process was completed prior to January 1, 2004, when the New Pension Scheme was made applicable.
Gupta added the respondent took time to issue the appointment orders. As such, inaction on the respondent’s part would not take away the petitioner’s right and he was entitled to consideration of his claim under the Old Pension Scheme.
Opposing the plea, the state counsel contended that the actual appointment was made after January 1, 2004, when the New Contributory Provident Fund Scheme was operational. The same was “rightly made applicable upon the petitioner though the post against which the petitioner has been recruited was advertised in 2001 and even the selection of the petitioner is prior January 1, 2004”.
After hearing rival contentions and going through the documents, Justice Sethi ruled: “Once it is a conceded fact that the petitioner was appointed on the post of which was advertised in 2001 and his selection was also made prior to January 1, 2004, when the New Defined Contributory Pension Scheme was made applicable, the petitioner is entitled to be considered under the Old Pension Scheme for the intents and purpose.”
Before parting with the matter, Justice Sethi asserted the question of law raised in the present petition had already been dealt with on the basis of the settled principle of law in the case of “Hitesh Kumar and others versus the State of Haryana and others”.
The state counsel could not identify any distinguishing factors in the case. As such, Justice Sethi allowed the petition in accordance with the Haryana judgment.
