BIRENDRA KUMAR ROY Vs. MANAGING DIRECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner in this writ application has prayed for a direction to the opposite party to calculate the pension at Rs. 9,210/ - per month taking his past service in Central Co -operative Bank, Balasore into account.

(2.) THE case of the petitioner is that he was selected for appointment in the Balasore District Central Co -operative Bank as a Clerk and joined on 11.8.1958. He was thereafter promoted as Accountant and after further promotion, he became Secretary on 1.8.1976. He was trained under the Cadre Scheme formulated by the Orissa State Cooperative Bank as per its resolution and under the said resolution it was decided that he should be treated as an employee of the Orissa State Co -operative Bank (O.S.C.B.) from the date of joining in the Central Co -operative Bank, Balasore and he was also directed to offer his consent within one month. After receipt of the letter to the above effect, the petitioner offered his consent to be absorbed in the service of O.S.C.B. as per aforesaid resolution and pursuant to such consent, a further resolution was adopted by the opposite party on 23.9.1978. It was resolved in the said resolution that for the promotion pay scale, retirement benefits and other benefits of service, his past service in the Central Bank shall be taken into account. The said terms and conditions were accepted by the petitioner and he joined the service under the O.S.C.B. The final gradation list in Annexure -6, as per the petitioner, indicates that one Shri N.C. Das and Shri N. K. Prusty joined service under the O.S.C.B. on 1.11.1966 and 29.8.1967 respectively and the petitioner has been shown senior to them since his past service under the Central Co -operative Bank, Balasore was counted from 11.8.1958. While serving under the O.S.C.B., the petitioner and the aforesaid two persons were promoted to the post of Deputy General Manager. The petitioner was further promoted to the post of Additional General Manager on 12.4.1994 whereas the aforesaid two persons continued as Deputy General Manager. Subsequently, on 8.11.1994 the petitioner became General Manager whereafter Shri N.C. Das was promoted as Additional General Manager. The post of General Manager was redesignated as Chief General Manager and the petitioner while serving as Chief General Manager retired on superannuation on 30th November, 1999 whereafter Shri N.C. Das was promoted as Chief General Manager on 1.12.1999. It is the further case of the petitioner that while Shri N.C. Das became the General Manager, Shri N.K. Prusty became Additional General Manager on 31st May, 2000. On the basis of the above, it is claimed by the petitioner that the resolution passed by the Cadre Committee of the O.S.C.B. to consider the past service of the petitioner under the Balasore Central Co -operative Bank had been given effect to for the purpose of promotion. After retirement of the petitioner from service, the Cadre Committee of the O.S.C.B. in its resolution dated 22nd October, 1999 resolved to sanction retirement benefits such as pension and gratuity taking into account the period of service rendered by the petitioner in the Central Co -operative Bank, Balasore and as per sanction order dated 30th November, 1999 the basic pension was fixed at Rs.5, 875/ - and Dearness relief on basic pension was fixed at Rs.3,335/ - and, therefore, the total sanctioned amount per month was Rs.9,210/ -. While calculating the pension, it is evident that the past service of the petitioner had been taken into account. The grievance of the petitioner is that in spite of the resolution passed by the O.S.C.B. at the time of absorption of the petitioner in the said organization having been given effect to, his pension was suddenly reduced to Rs.4,641/ - for December, 1999 and January, 2000 and Rs.5,694/ - for February, 2000. It is also the case of the petitioner that as per the said resolution though he had been paid full gratuity, his past service under the Central Co -operative Bank, Balasore had not been taken into account for the purpose of pension. In the writ application relying on the aforesaid resolution, a prayer is made for taking into account his past service in the Central Co -operative Bank for the purpose of calculation of pension.

(3.) SHRI G.A.R. Dora, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submitted that pursuant to Annexure -1 the petitioner submitted his consent to be absorbed in the service of Orissa State Co -operative Bank Limited from the date of joining in the Central Co -operative Bank. He also submitted that in the resolution dated 23.9.1978 the Cadre Committee resolved that while considering the promotional aspect of the petitioner, pay scale, retirement benefits and other benefits of service, his past service shall be taken into account subject to the Cadre Rules of the Bank. On the basis of this resolution, Shri Dora contended that the petitioner had been given promotion considering his past service in the Central Co -operative Bank, Balasore and accordingly the retirement benefits should also be extended to him taking into consideration his past service in the Central Co -operative Bank. Reliance is also placed by the petitioner on a similar resolution passed by the Cadre Committee dead 22.10.1999. Relying on all the aforesaid decisions/resolutions Sri Dora further contended that in the matter of promotion, pay scale etc., the resolution of the Cadre Committee having been implemented, there is no reason as to why the said resolutions should not be extended to the petitioner so far as the retirement benefits are concerned. It was also contented by Shri Dora that had this benefit not been promised while considering the absorption of the petitioner, the petitioner might not have consented for joining in the service of the Orissa State Co -operative Bank Limited.