BHUBANESWAR: In a significant order, the Orissa Administrative Tribunal (OAT) has held that the right to pension of a government employee cannot be taken away by a retrospective amendment of the government rule. The Bhubaneswar Principal Bench of the Tribunal, comprising Member (Judicial) Dr Dillip Kumar Sahu and Member (Administrative) BK Chattopadhyay, passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Umesh Chandra Sutar.Sutar, an engineer with NTPC, had been duly selected and posted as Assistant Director of Factories and Boilers after resigning from his previous position in February 2005. His new post was attached to a pensionable establishment as per the Orissa Civil Service (Pension) Rule, 1992. He was also given a GPF account by the Accountant General. Even as he was continuing, the Government issued a notification amending the rules with retrospective effect from January 1, 2005.The amended rule said all persons appointed under the Government of Orissa with effect from January 1, 2005 shall not be eligible for pension but shall be covered under defined contribution pension scheme.According to advocate Surya Narayan Das, who represented Sutar, the Tribunal cited a Supreme Court order which stated that the right to receive pension is a property under Article 31(c) and 19(1) of the Indian Constitution. An amendment having retrospective operation which has the effect of taking away a benefit already available to the employee under the existing rule is arbitrary, discriminatory and violation of rights guaranteed in the Constitution.Quashing the Government order, the OAT Bench observed that in case of Sutar, the rules were amended subsequent to his appointment amounting to retrospective effect which is why his rights have been divested.
Comments
0 comment