E-Paper
Employees’ recruitment process started before Nov 2005 entitled to OPS: HC
The division bench of acting chief justice SV Gangapurwala and justice SV Marne also asked the state government to issue an office memorandum, giving an option of OPS to the state government employees appointed against posts or vacancies advertised or notified for recruitment before October 31, 2005 – the date of notification for Defined Contributory Pension Scheme (DCPS).
Mumbai: The Bombay high court recently said that 56 of its employees whose recruitment process had started before November 1, 2005, will be governed by Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and General Provident Fund Scheme.
The division bench of acting chief justice SV Gangapurwala and justice SV Marne also asked the state government to issue an office memorandum, giving an option of OPS to the state government employees appointed against posts or vacancies advertised or notified for recruitment before October 31, 2005 – the date of notification for Defined Contributory Pension Scheme (DCPS).
Rajendra Khilari and 55 others working in the high court, had moved the high court in 2021, seeking a declaration that they were governed by the provisions of the OPS in vogue before November 1, 2005, and the General Provident Fund Scheme and not under the new DCPS introduced by the central government in December 2003.
The state government adopted the scheme two years later and made it applicable to all their employees recruited after November 1, 2005. The high court administration issued a notification on April 21, 2008, and adopted the state government’s decision and as the 56 clerks were appointed after November 1, 2005, DCPS was made applicable to them.
From October 2017, the petitioner employees started submitting representations to various authorities, including the high court registrars and the chief minister and in 2021 filed a writ petition when their pleas for OPS went unheeded.
Their counsel, advocate Vishal Kanade, submitted that the selection process of the petitioners had started and their written tests and typing tests were completed much before the cut-off date. He submitted that merely because of the delay in conducting the interviews, the petitioners cannot suffer.
Pointing out that the Centre had issued an office memorandum on March 3, 2023, giving a one-time option to central employees appointed against posts or vacancies advertised or notified for recruitment before the date of notification of the new pension scheme and submitted that similar benefits should be extended to the petitioners as well.
The bench accepted the contention after noticing that the state government had essentially followed the scheme formulated by the central government. “Therefore, we see no reason why the state government should not follow the provisions of office memorandum dated March 3, 2023, as well,” the bench said and added that the same would also apply to high court employees.
The judges said they hope and trust that the state government would issue an office memorandum like the one issued by the Centre, to cover similarly situated employees and avoid further litigation.
