Kushum Bala Das v. The State of Assam and 6 Ors

ORDER

21.02.2024 Heard Mr M Islam, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr P Handique, learned standing counsel, P & RD.

¶2The prayer in this writ petition is for grant of full pension and other retiral benefits by considering the total length of service reckoned from the date of initial appointment of the petitioner in the service of the Panchayat.

¶3The petitioner retired from service on 31.05.1999, as a Road Mahurar of Kadamtola Gaon Panchayat under Dhubri Zilla Parishad, on reaching the age of superannuation. The petitioner had joined in his service as Road Mahurar of Kadamtola Gaon Panchayat under Dhubri Zilla Parishad on 01.05.1961. During the tenure of his service, the State Government had enacted the Assam Panchayat Employees [Provincialisation] Act, 1999 ['the Act, for short] and as per the provisions of the Act, the provincialised Panchayat Secretaries are to be provided pension and other retirement dues in terms of the Page No.# 3/4 provisions of the Act. The services of the petitioner came to be provincialised accordingly in terms of the provisions of the Act.

¶4When a dispute arose as regards the date from which the period of services of the provincialised Panchayat Secretaries are to be counted for the purpose of pension and other retirement dues under the provisions of the Act, litigations ensued, a Division Bench of this Court in a writ appeal, Writ Appeal no. 145/2009 [The State of Assam & another vs. Syed Md. Fazlay Rabbi] and a batch of writ petitions in its common judgment and order dated 24.03.2010 set the issue at rest by holding that the benefits of the provisions of the Assam Panchayat Employees [Provincialisation] Act, 1999 [the Act] including those for pension and other retirement dues would be available to the provincialised employees in service on or after 01.10.1991 on the basis of the length of their services reckoned from the dates of their initial appointments. Special leave petitions, being Special Leave to Appeal [Civil] Nos. 19351– 19360/2010 preferred against the common judgment and order dated 24.03.2010 came to be dismissed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India on 02.08.2010. Thereafter, the State Government in the Pension and Public Grievances Department issued a Notification dated 17.03.2011, whereby, it had ordered that the benefits of the provisions of the Assam Panchayat Employees [Provincialisation] Act, 1999 [the Act] including those for pension and other retirement dues applicable to the State Government Employees, would also be available to the provincialised Panchayat Employees who were in service on or after 01.10.1991 on the basis of the length of their service reckoned from the dates of their initial appointments in the service of Panchayats. The said Notification was issued with the concurrence of the Finance Department.

¶5The Pension Payment Order being PPO No. ADP/PRI/PPO/GPO/2012/000911, issued in respect of petitioner has specifically stated that the date of petitioner's entry in service is 01.05.1961 and the petitioner's date of retirement is 31.05.1999. The total period of service rendered by the petitioner was 38 years 1 month 0 days. Yet, the Page No.# 4/4 pension disbursal authority had calculated the petitioner's monthly pension @ Rs. 1,531/- per month with the observation that a period of 14 years 1 month 4 days could not be counted for the purpose of pension and the petitioner's net qualifying service would be only 24 years.

¶6A conjoint reading of the judgment and order dated 24.03.2010 passed in a writ appeal, Writ Appeal no. 145/2009 [The State of Assam & another vs. Syed Md. Fazlay Rabbi], the Notification dated 17.03.2011, unerringly points out to the position that for the purpose of pension and other retirement dues, the entire period of service of 38 years 1 month 0 days from the petitioner's date of entry in service, i.e., 01.05.1961 till his date of retirement, i.e., 31.05.1999, is required to be counted for the purpose of pension and other retirement dues. As such, the decision not to count a period of 14 years 1 month 4 days for the purpose of pension and making calculation of the pension amount on that basis is found to be incongruent and impermissible and accordingly, the same are set aside.

¶7As a corollary, the respondent authorities shall now work out the entitlement of the pension and other retirement dues of the petitioner by counting his total period of service as 38 years 1 month 0 days days and issue a fresh Pension Payment Order in supersession of the earlier Pension Payment Order. The entire exercise shall be undertaken and completed within a period of 2 [two] months from the date submission of a certified copy of this order by the petitioner at the office of the respondent no. 4 and the respondent no. 5. In the event such exercise is not completed within a period of 2 [two] months from the said date, the same will carry an interest of 6% per annum.

¶8Accordingly, the writ petition stands allowed to the extent indicated above. No cost. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010025502024 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/853/2024o KUSHUMoBALAoDASo W/O-oLATEoATULoCHANDRAoDAS,oR/O-oVILL.-oSANTIPUR,oP.S.oSAPATGRAM,o DIST.oDHUBRI,oASSAM,oPIN-o783337. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo6oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOF ASSAM,oPANCHAYAToANDoRURALoDEVELOPMENToDEPARTMENT,oDISPUR, GUWAHATI-6. 2:THEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oPENSIONoANDoPUBLICoGRIEVANCEoDEPARTMENT oASSAM oDISPUR oGHY-6. 3:THEoPRINCIPALoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAM oFINANCEoDEPARTMENT oDISPUR oGHY-6. 4:THEoCOMMISSIONER oPANCHAYAToANDoRURALoDEVELOPMENT oASSAM oJURIPAR oSIXMILE oGHY-37. 5:THEoDIRECTORoOFoPENSION oASSAM oHOUSEFEDoCOMPLEX oDISPUR oGHY-6. Page No.# 2/4 6:THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER DHUBRI ZILLA PARISHAD P.O. AND DIST. DHUBRI ASSAM PIN- 783301. 7:TREASURY OFFICER DHUBRI TREASURY DHUBRI P.O. AND DIST. DHUBRI ASSAM PIN- 783301 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. M ISLAM Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM BEFORE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SOUMITRA SAIKIA