People who had served as Village Karnam, a post abolished in 1980, and reappointed as Village Administrative Officer in the 1990s after several rounds in litigation were entitled to minimum pension from the next day of their superannuation and not from the date when two Government Orders, one in 2011 and another in 2015, were issued granting the benefit to them, the Madras High Court Bench here has held.
Justice R. Suresh Kumar passed the ruling while allowing a writ petition filed in 2010 by S. Balasubramanian, who lost the job of Village Karnam after it was abolished on November 14, 1980, following a policy decision taken by the government. He was reappointed as VAO in 1992 but could not complete 10 years of service to become eligible for grant of pension since he reached the age of superannuation in 1997 itself.
During the course of arguments of the case, the judge was informed that a Government Order was passed on April 20, 2011, relaxing the rule, of putting in at least 10 years of service for being eligible for pension, with respect to Village Karnams reappointed as VAOs. However, the petitioner’s name did not figure in that G.O. Subsequently, another G.O., was passed on April 8, 2015, granting the benefit to 184 people, including the petitioner.
Shockingly, the 2015 G.O. stated that minimum pension would be paid to them not from the date of their actual eligibility to get pension but only from the date when the G.O. was issued. An Additional Government Pleader contended that the government had decided to relax the pension rules for the petitioner as well as similarly placed persons only on humanitarian grounds and hence they could not be paid arrears of pension from the next day of their superannuation.
Rejecting the contention, the judge ordered payment of arrears of pension within three months and directed the Tirumangalam Tahsildar and Usilampatti Revenue Divisional Officer to forward revised pension proposals to the officers concerned.
