Pension Ordered To Re-Employed Transport Worker

A Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation employee discharged from service on medical grounds and subsequently re-employed in an alternative job cannot be denied pension, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ruled. Dismissing a writ appeal filed by the Corporation, a Division Bench of Justice Prafulla Kumar Misra and Justice P.R. Shivakumar said such denial was against the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, and the TNSTC Employees Pension Fund Rules, 1998.

The appeal was against an order passed by a single judge to disburse pension to a bus conductor appointed in 1979, discharged in 1995 after he met with an accident on duty, re-employed as a helper in 1996 and retired in 2005. He was denied pension for not having completed 10 years of service as a helper.