The Calcutta High Court has given a government employee another chance to get the benefits of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). The employee had moved from a peon's post to a lower-grade clerk's job in 2007 after being selected through a separate recruitment process.
However, he had not disclosed his earlier job application or taken a technical resignation while switching posts. The court said that such a technical mistake alone should not take away pension benefits. It directed the authorities to reconsider his claim.
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The case concerns a government employee who changed jobs after being selected for a new post, but later faced a problem with his pension benefits.
As per Livemint, he first applied for the post of peon in 2002 and was appointed in September 2006. He had also applied separately for a lower-grade clerk's post in 2005. After being selected for the clerk's job, he resigned from his peon post on March 14, 2007. In his resignation letter, he clearly mentioned that he had been selected for the other post and wanted to join it.
His resignation was accepted, and he was relieved on March 23. He joined as a clerk on March 27, 2007. However, his new post came under the New Pension Scheme of 2004.
The dispute arose because he had not followed the formal process of “technical resignation.” The Calcutta High Court has now asked authorities to reconsider his claim under the 2023 government rules.
The issue came up later after the government's March 3, 2023 order gave eligible Central government employees a one-time chance to switch to the Old Pension Scheme if their jobs were advertised before December 22, 2003.
When the employee sought the pension benefit, his claim was rejected. The reason cited was that he had not taken a “technical” resignation. However, the court has now said an employee cannot be expected to know every service rule.
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The court said the employee was not shown any rule in 2006 requiring him to disclose pending job applications. However, the ruling does not guarantee OPS to everyone. It noted that authorities must still check each employee's eligibility under the 2023 rules.
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