SATYANARAYAN GUPTA Vs. M P HOUSING BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner before this Court who is a retired employee of Madhya Pradesh Housing Board, has filed this present petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution being aggrieved by action on the part of the respondents / Board in not paying him pension and other retiral dues.

(2.) It has been stated in the writ petition that the petitioner was appointed as a time keeper in the work-charge establishment by an order dated 25th July, 1973 for a period of three months (Annexure P/1). It has also been stated in the writ petition that the petitioner continued to serve under the work-charge establishment of the M.P. Housing Board with the satisfaction of the higher authorities and he was subsequently placed in the time scale of time keeper by an order dated 05th October, 1973. The petitioner has further stated that his case was considered for regularization in regular establishment on the post of Office Assistant and an order dated 06th August, 1986 was issued regularizing him on the post of Assistant. However, the order of regularization was not given effect to as the petitioner was not holding the requisite qualification at the relevant point of time and was holding a degree of 'Madhyama' which was not recognized by the authorities. The petitioner's case was again subsequently considered for regularization as an Assistant and by an order dated 14th March, 1995 his service were regularized. The petitioner was regularized as a Assistant under the regular establishment and he continued to work on the same post till his retirement i.e. 30th August, 2003. It has also been stated by the petitioner that he has put in a total 30 years of service with the respondents/Board and has received the General Provident Fund to the tune of Rs. 81,202/- which was sanctioned by the authorities vide order dated 28th August, 2003. It has also been stated by the petitioner that he has put in 22 years of service under the work-charge establishment and followed 8 years of service under the regular establishment and therefore he is entitled for grant of pension keeping in view the provisions of Madhya Pradesh (Work Charge and Contingency Paid Employees) Pension Rules, 1979 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules of 1979') read with M.P. Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules of 1976').

(3.) The respondents/Board have filed a reply and in the reply it has been stated by the respondents that the Madhya Pradesh Housing Board has adopted the M.P. Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1976 and as per the provisions of the Rules of 1976, the qualifing service required for entitlement to pension is 10 years and as the petitioner is having 8 years, 3 months and 25 days regular service, therefore, under the provisions of the Rules of 1976 , the petitioner is not entitled for grant of pension as claimed by him. It has also been stated by the respondents that the Rules dealing with the payment of pension in respect of work-charge contingency paid employe.es known as Madhya Pradesh (Work Charged and Contingency Paid Employees) Pension Rules, 1979 have not been adopted by the Housing Board and therefore because the Rules of 1979 have not been adopted by the Housing Board, the question of counting the services of the petitioner rendered by him as work-charge employee does not arise. The respondents have further submitted that the petitioner has not put in 10 years regular service under the regular establishment, and, therefore, he is not entitled for grant of pensionary benefits. The respondents have also relied upon a judgment rendered by this Court in the case of Chcmdrika Prasad Pandey vs. The M.P. Housing Board (WP No. 5997/2001) passed on 29th August, 2003 stating that the identical placed employees were denied the benefit of pension. It has also been stated by the respondents that the petitioner is entitled only for gratuity amounting to Rs. 61,526/ - and after deductions, an amount of Rs. 50,526/- has been paid to the petitioner and therefore, the petitioner is not entitled for any relief whatsoever kind.