Mitali Palnitkar
Published On: February 20, 2022 at 15:00 IST
The Gujarat High Court Order which directed the State Government to pay pensionary benefits to a man who retired after rendering more than 30 years of service, was upheld by the Supreme Court.
The Bench consisted of Justice MR Shah and Justice BV Nagarathna. It was dealing with a Special Leave Petition (SLP) assailing the Gujarat High Court Order. It stated that the State could not be allowed to take the benefit of its own wrong.
The Court opined that it was unfortunate that the State took services of the Respondent for 30 years as an Ad hoc employee and then contend that he was not entitled to pension.
The bench stated,
“To take the services continuously for 30 years and thereafter to contend that an employee who has rendered 30 years continuous service shall not be eligible for pension is nothing but unreasonable.”
The Supreme Court stated that the State as a welfare State should not have taken the stand of not paying pension to the man who rendered service for over 30 years.
It further added that the Gujarat High Court was not wrong in directing the State to pay pension to the person who had retired after rendering more than 30 years of continuous service.
Therefore, it stated, “In the present Case, the High Court had not committed any error in directing the State to pay pensionary benefits to the respondent who has retired after rendering more than 30 years service.”