The relief sought for in this writ petition is for a direction to the respondents to take into account the period of service from 21.08.1967 to 31.12.1981, along with the service from 29.07.1985 to 30.09.2002, for arriving at the total qualifying service for pension.
2.The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the writ petitioner states that the writ petitioner was initially appointed as Physical Education Teacher in the Government High School, Perugalathur, Chennai Taluk, Tiruvanamalai District on 21.08.1967 and served till 31.12.1981. After rendering a service of 14 years , 4 months and 10 days, the petitioner resigned the post on account of his ill health and the letter of resignation was accepted by the Chief Educational Officer, Vellore in proceedings dated 31.12.1981. Subsequently, the writ petitioner was appointed as Physical Education Teacher through Employment Exchange in the Middle School, Perumugai, Vellore Taluk and District, under the Administrative Control of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department of Government of Tamil Nadu in proceedings dated 22.07.1985. The writ petitioner joined duty in the said post on 29.07.1985 in the post of Physical Education Teacher. The writ petitioner has rendered a total service of 17 years, 2 months and 1 day. Thereafter, the petitioner has voluntarily retired from service with effect from 30.09.2002. The grievance of the writ petitioner is that the earlier services rendered by him in the post of Physical Education Teacher in Government High School, Perugalathur, Chennai Taluk, Tiruvanamalai District from 21.08.1967 to 31.12.1981 was not taken into consideration for the purpose of calculating the qualifying service for granting pension.
3.The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents state that the writ petitioner resigned his job on 31.12.1981 and thereafter, appointed in a new post through District Employment Exchange and the second appointment was a fresh appointment and therefore, the past services rendered by him, cannot be counted for the purpose of qualifying service.
4.The Government of Tamil Nadu amended Rule 11 of the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules in respect of qualifying service and the amended Rule is extracted hereunder:
Rule 11-QUALIFYING SERVICE
1."Commencement of qualifying service {(1}) Subject to the provisions of these rules, qualifying service of a Government servant shall commence from the date he taken charge of the post to which he is first appointed either substantively or in an officiating or temporary capacity. In the case of a Government servant retiring on or after the 1st October. 1969,2{.....} temporary or officiating service in a pensionable post whether rendered in a regular capacity or not shall count in full as qualifying service even it is not followed by confirmation.
(2) Half of the service paid from contingencies shall be allowed to count towards qualifying service for pension along with regular service subject to the following conditions:
service paid from contingencies shall be in a job involving whole time employment and not part time for a portion of the day.
Service paid from contingencies shall be in a type of work or job for which regular posts could have been sanctioned, for example Chowkidar.
Service shall be for which the payment is made out on monthly or daily rates computed and paid on a monthly basis and which, though not analogous to the regular scale of pay, shall bear some relation in the matter of pay to those being paid for similar jobs being performed by staff in regular establishments.
Service paid from contingencies shall be continuous and followed by absorption in regular employment without a break.
Subject to the above conditions being fulfilled, the weightage for past service paid from contingencies shall be limited to the period after the 1st January 1961 for which authenticated records of service may be available.
Pension or revised pension admissible as the case shall be paid from the 23rd June 1988.] [Half of the service rendered by State Government employee under non-pensionable establishment shall be allowed to be counted for pensionary benefits along with regular service under pensionable establishment subject to the following conditions.
(a) Service under non-pensionable establishment should have been in a job involving whole time employment.
(b) The service under non-pensionable establishment should have been on time scale of pay.
(c) The service under non-pensionable establishment should have been continuous and followed by absorption in pensionable establishment without a break.
(3) These orders shall take effect from the date of this Government Order. In respect of those who retired prior to the date of this order, eligible pension or revised pension, as the case may be, shall be paid from the date of this order, and that there can be no claim for arrears in any case for the period upto the date of this order.
Note: In the case of the employees of the former Pudukkottai State and persons transferred from the former Travancore-Cochin State consequent on the reorganisation of State temporary or officiating service rendered in a regular capacity under the former Pudukkottai State or the former Travancore-Cochin State shall count in full for purposes of pension:
Provided that-
(a) in the case of a Government Servant, service rendered before attaining the age of eighteen years shall not count, except for compensation gratuity;
(b) in the case of a Government Servant whose year and month of birth are known, but not the exact date the 16th of the month should be treated as the date of birth. When the year of birth is known but not the month and date 1st July if the year shall be taken.
(c) in the case of a Government Servant with no military service who gives on recruitment only his age, but not the year of his birth the year should be arrived at by deducting from the year of recruitment the given age and then the date of birth should be taken as the 1st July of that year:
Provided further that in the case of a Government servant with previous military service the date of birth is fixed as laid down below:
When a military employee is transferred to a civil department under the Government and assumes a civilian status, the date of birth to be entered in his service book should be the date stated by him at the time of attestation.
When the documents referring to the previous military service of an individual do not give the definite date of birth but only the age stated at te time of attestation, he should be assumed to have completed the stated age on the date of attestation e.g., if one ex-soldier was enrolled on 1st January 1910 and if, on that date, his age was stated to be 18, his date of birth should be taken as 1st Janurary 1892. This procedure will apply to cases arising on or after 27th June 1938.
Notwithstanding anything contained above in cases where S.S.L.C. or any other school certificate is available, the date of birth, as entered therein should be taken into account.
[Explanation.--For the purpose of date of birth, the word 'attestation' refers only to the initial records kept by the Defence Department at the time of appointment of the individual and not in the discharge certificate on discharge from the Defence Department.] '
5.On a perusal of the Rule, even temporary services shall be counted for the purpose of calculating the qualifying services. Further, an amendment was issued in this regard for the purpose of counting half of the services rendered by the State Government Employees even under the Non-Pensionable Establishment. However,the writ petitioner had worked as a regular employee in the regular establishment. Therefore, by virtue of Rule 11 of the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules, his services earlier rendered is to be considered for the purpose of calculating the qualifying services for grant of pension in view of Rule 11 of the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules 1978, the case of the writ petitioner deserves to be considered. In this regard, the petitioner is at liberty to submit a fresh representation along with the necessary documents to the 4th respondent for the purpose of qualifying service, the earlier services rendered by him as Physical Education Teacher in the Government High School, Perugalathur and on receipt of the same, the 4th respondent has to reconsider the entire issue in the light of Rule 11 of the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules 1978 and pass orders in this regard in respect of calculation of the qualifying services within a period of twelve weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
6.Accordingly, the writ petition stands disposed of. However, there shall be no order as to costs.
24.11.2017 kak Index:Yes/No Internet:Yes/No Speaking Order/Non-Speaking Order:Yes/No To
1.The Secretary to Government, Government of Tamilnadu, School Education Department, Secretariat, Chennai 600 009.
2.The Secretary to Government, Adi-Dravida and Tribal Welfare Department, Secretariat, Chennai 600 009.
3.The Director of Elementary Education, Chennai 600 006.
4.The Director of Adi-Dravida and Tribal Welfare, Chennai 600 005.
5.The Principal Accountant General(A&E,) Tamil Nadu, Chennai 600 018.
6.The Special Tahsildar, Adi Dravidar Welfare Polur, Tiruvannamalai District.
S.M.SUBRAMANIAM J.
kak W.P.No.23415 of 2010 24.11.2017