Thursday, February 28, 2008

Court: Deputation Should Add To Service Period For Pension

New Delhi: If teachers working in State government schools are on deputation to Central institutions, their total period of service should be taken into consideration for calculating pension, the Supreme Court has held. A Bench consisting of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice R.V. Raveendran pointed out that the Government of India, by official memoranda dated August 29, 1984 and February 7, 1986, clarified that the scheme of counting previous service would apply to State government employees moving to Central autonomous bodies.

The scheme required the previous employer, viz. the State government to accept pension liability for the service in accordance with the principles laid down in the memoranda, the Bench said. The State government should first work out its pension liability for the period the teacher worked in the State. For the period of service in Central schools, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) would work out the pension. This order was expected to benefit a large number of teachers who were working or who worked in Central schools on deputation from State governments.

In the instant case, Raghunandan Bhargava retired as an employee of the KVS on December 31, 1999. Prior to joining the KVS, he worked as assistant teacher in the Madhya Pradesh Education department from November 4, 1960 to January 7, 1978. As his full service was not calculated for pension, he moved the Central Administrative Tribunal, Jabalpur, for reckoning and adding the period of his service as assistant teacher in the Education department. The tribunal allowed the petition.

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