Regularised ReT teachers appointed before Jan 1, 2010 entitled to OPS benefits: CAT
Srinagar, Oct 2: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in Srinagar has held the Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers appointed before January 1, 2010 on honorarium basis and subsequently regularized after this date are entitled to pensionary benefits under old pension scheme (OPS).
Allowing their plea, a bench of D S Mahra Member (Judicial) held entitled forty-seven aggrieved regularised ReT teachers to pensionary benefits under the old pension rules as it counted their honorarium period as “qualifying service for pension, notwithstanding their regularization after January1, 2010”.
While the tribunal quashed all the related communications and orders compelling the aggrieved ReT teachers appointed prior to cutoff date to comply with the new pension scheme, it directed the authorities to release forthwith the salaries withheld from the teachers.
The teachers(applicants) were aggrieved by the Jammu & Kashmir Civil Services (Defined Contribution Pension) Scheme Rules, 2010 framed under SRO 400 dated 24.12.2009 and incorporated in the Civil Services Regulations.
In keeping with the SRO 400 issued by the government, the Education Department began implementing the new pension scheme and directed the applicants to obtain permanent retirement account number (PRAN), intimating that regularized ReT teachers after January 1, 2010 would fall under the scheme.
A communication dated March 24, 2011 addressed by the Director School Education Kashmir to all Chief Education Officers clarified the position, which led to withholding of salaries of the applicants’ pending compliance.
The contention of the aggrieved teachers was that the State government initially notified the Rehbar-e-Taleem Scheme vide Government Order No 396-Edu of 2000 and later modified the same vide Government Order No. 115-Edu of 2008 whereby a period of five years rendered on honorarium basis was ordered to count as qualifying service for pension provided such period is continuous and followed by regularization as General Line Teacher.
After issuance of SRO 400, the Education Department began implementing the new pension scheme and directed the applicants to obtain PRAN, intimating that regularized ReT teachers after January 1, 2010 would fall under the scheme.
A communication dated March 24, 2011 addressed by the Director School Education Kashmir to all Chief Education Officers clarified the position, which led to withholding of salaries of the forty-seven teachers pending compliance.
The aggrieved teachers’ contention was that that they were appointed between 2005 and 2009, and after regularization, they have been performing the duties of General Line Teachers and were entitled to pensionary benefits from the date of their initial appointment as per Government Order No. 115-Edu of 2008.
They submitted that the new pension scheme, as notified under SRO 400 and framed under the Civil Services Regulations, applied only to government servants appointed on or after January 1, 2010 and the same could not be applied to them.
Moreover, they said that the pension is a deferred portion of remuneration earned for services rendered and constitutes a property right. Therefore, altering the scheme retrospectively infringed upon their substantive rights, they said.
“It is a matter of record that the applicants were appointed prior to 01.01.2010, rendered continuous service on honorarium basis, and their such service stands expressly recognized as qualifying for pension under Government Order No. 115-Edu of 2008, later affirmed by Cabinet approval in Government Order No. 469-Edu of 2014”, the tribunal said.
It added: “ReT teachers who perform identical duties as General Line Teachers and whose pre-regularization service has been explicitly counted as qualifying for pension, cannot be denied old pension benefits merely on account of their date of regularization”.
Any differential treatment on this basis would be discriminatory, arbitrary, and violative of the constitutional guarantees of equality and protection of property in the form of pensionary benefits” the tribunal said.
The tribunal observed that the cut-off date of January 1, 2010 contained in SRO 400 applies only to new entrants to service and cannot take away the vested pensionary rights of pre-cutoff appointees. “Applying the new pension scheme to the applicants would amount to altering settled service conditions, depriving them of accrued benefits, and creating an arbitrary and discriminatory classification amongst similarly situated employees”.
The tribunal directed the authorities to implement its decision by passing a reasoned and speaking order within a period of two months from the date a copy of the order was served upon them.
