(1.) A few facts need be stated in the present petition so as to indicate the necessity of issuing directions to the Respondent-State in the matter of the grievance of the petitioner with regard to the calculation of his qualifying service, for the purposes of enabling him to get the pension on the basis thereof.
(2.) The petitioner who is a teacher initially worked in a non-Government Secondary School in the erstwhile Savantwadi State. Thereafter he entered the then State Government service on 12th June 1936. Savantwadi State came to be merged in the year 1948 in the Bombay State and the petitioner came to be employed as a teacher in the Bombay State. The petitioner's services as such were then lent to Banda Navbharat Shikshan Prasarak Mandal which was then running the K. M. E. School at Banda. The order of deputation made on July 21, 1953 placed the services of the petitioner at the disposal of the said Banda Education Society, Banda, for the purpose of appointment as a Head Master of that School. That order mentioned that his services were lent for a period of 5 years from the date of the order. It is not in dispute that the petitioner continued in the said post after the initial period of 5 years and served as a teacher till he received the order of August 25, 1960 to the effect that he retired from Government service as from that date. However, after this order, the petitioner's services were continued by the said society. For the purposes of the present petition, it is not in dispute that this continuation was in terms approved by the State Authorities in accordance with the terms of Secondary School Code. Eventually, the petitioner ceased to serve in the said post as from August 26, 1970. It is thus obvious that the petitioner was treated to be in continuous Government service right from June 12, 1936 till the order superannuating him on August 25, 1960. On that basis, the petitioner is entitled, and his entitlement is not in dispute, to the pension as is provided by the Revised Rules of 1950 read with the Bombay Civil Services Rules. It appears that on the basis of this Government service, the petitioner's pension has been calculated as Rs. 63-43 p. per month.
(3.) The narrow question that is debated in the present petition is whether the State is bound to take into account the continuous service rendered by the petitioner in the same post till the petitioner ceased to serve as from August 26, 1970 and after the date of his superannuation from the Government service. As far as the grant of benefit of pension to the teachers serving in the non- Government Secondary Schools is concerned, the matter is governed, by the policy resolution of the State Government bearing No. SSN 3365-G of November 4, 1968. If all the terms of that resolution are applied, in that the petitioner had continued to serve as teacher with non-Government Organization or with the non-Government aided school, he would be entitled to claim the relief of pension. The narrow distinction on the basis, of which the petitioner's claim to pension with regard to 10 years of service, i.e. between August 25, 1960 and August 26, 1970, is denied is that this latter service was not with the Government but with the society, the petitioner having been superannuated by the order of the Government of August 25, 1960.