Bahadur Singh Vs P.R.T.C. and others (Punjab and Haryana High Court)
Punjab and Haryana High Court held that employee’s benefits earned during their service cannot be taken away by making the termination effective before it actually happened. Thus, the termination cannot be applied retroactively to an earlier date.
Facts- The petitioner had worked as a Cleaner/Helper with various transport companies and later on, he applied for a Driving License while he was working in a transport company at Calcutta and was issued Driving License from RAC/MV Calcutta and the Driving License of the petitioner was renewed from time to time, when he attained the age of 20 years for driving Heavy Transport Vehicle i.e. Trucks and Buses.
Petitioner was selected and appointed as Bus Driver in PRTC, Patiala and joined his services on 01.09.1970 as Bus Driver at the age of 32 years and was allotted Driver No.497 and his date of birth was recorded in his service book as 20.07.1938 and he was to be superannuated on 31.07.1996 on attaining the age of 58 years but he was retired vide impugned order dated 08.06.1995 w.e.f. 31.12.1994 retrospectively on the assumption that his date of birth should have been December, 1936 because the Driving License for heavy vehicles cannot be issued before the age of 20 years.
