M THOMAS Vs. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE appeals have been referred to this Full Bench by the Division Bench (K. S. Radhakrishnan and G. Sasidharan, JJ.) on a substantial question of law as the Division Bench felt itself unable to accept the views expressed by another Division Bench in Alavi v. State of Kerala (ILR 1999 (2)Kerala 174.

(2.) RULE 60 (a) of Part I of the Kerala Service RULEs (K. S. R.) provides that the date of compulsory retirement of an officer shall take effect from the afternoon of the last day of the month in which he attains the age of 55 years, though there is a provision for retention beyond that date under special circumstances, with which are not concerned. RULE 60 (b) of Part Ik. S. R. however, makes an exception with regard to a particular category of officers and reads as under: 60 (b) officers in the Last Grade Service on 7th April, 1970 will retire on the afternoon of last day of the month in which they attain the age of 60 years provided that this benefit will be available to them only as long as they continue to be in the Last Grade Service as defined in RULE 12 (16a ). Note:- Ex-servicemen who were in armed force prior to the 7th April, 1970 and who have been appointed as Last Grade Employees in the last Grade Service in the State after the 7th April 1970 will also be eligible for the benefit of the above rule provided they continue to be in the last Grade Service.

(3.) IN Chellappan Pillai v. State of Kerala (1982 k. L. T. 638) the interpretation to be given to the word service appearing in rule 60 (b) of Part I K. S. R. was considered. A learned Single Judge of this court noticed that the word service had not been defined in the Kerala Service rules and considered the question whether the service mentioned in rule 60 (b)includes temporary service also and whether rule 60 (b) would exclude application to temporary service. The learned Single Judge relied on two reported judgments of Single Judges in Gopalan Nair v. Regional Deputy Director of Public INstruction (1980 K. L. T. 845) and in Moosa v. A. E. O. (1975 K. L. T. (SN)34 and a Full Bench judgment of this court in Kunhikrishnan Nambiar v. State of kerala (1964 K. L. T. 704) to come to the conclusion that there was no warrant for excluding temporary service from the benefit of rule 60 (b ). It would suffice for our purpose to refer to the Full Bench judgment as it throws sufficient light on the issue.