Case Law Details
State of Tamil Nadu Vs R. Chitradevi (Madras High Court)
Hon’ble Division Bench of this Hon’ble Court in V.Vasanthi Vs. State of Tamil Nadu 2019(4) CTC 865 held that the relevant date for claiming Old Pension Scheme is the date of actual appointment and not the date of approval of appointment. The relevant para from the Hon’ble Division Bench Judgment in Vasanthi’s case is extracted hereunder:
“A careful perusal of the above observation made in the said Pallivasal Primary School case would show that even though approval of the Appointment of the Teacher, who has undergone Child Psychology Training, will take effect only on completion of such training the past service rendered by such Teacher i.e., service rendered before the completion of such training, is bound to be counted for Pension. In other words, the service period of such teacher commences from the date of the Appointment and not from the date of approval, even though the Monetary benefits start to accrue only from the date of completion of the training. Therefore, for all practical purposes, the date of Appointment is not altered and remain to be the same. Therefore, the date of Approval of Appointment of the Writ Petitioner cannot be construed as the date relevant for considering the applicability of the Pension Scheme and on the other hand, it is the original date on which the Writ Petitioner got appointed that matters for considering as to whether the Writ Petitioner is governed under the Old Pension Scheme or not. At this juncture, it is relevant to note that in G.O.Ms.No.259, Finance (Pension) Department, dated 06.08.2003, a Proviso to Rule 2 of the Tamil Nadu Pension Rule 1978, was introduced by way of amendment, wherein and whereby, it is contemplated that the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules, 1978 shall not apply to Government Servants “appointed” on or after 1st April 2003 to services and posts. The word “appointed” referred in the said Proviso cannot be construed to mean approval of such Appointment.
Accordingly, the Writ Appeal is allowed and the Order of the Writ Court is set aside. Consequently, the Writ Petition filed by the Petitioner/Appellant is allowed and the Respondents are directed to permit the Petitioner to continue under the Old Pension Scheme, namely, Teacher Provident Fund Scheme. No Costs”
The said Judgment of the Hon’ble Division Bench squarely covers the issue raised before us.
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