Shiv Kumar Vs State of Hp and Another — Himachal Pradesh HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Shiv Kumar Vs State of Hp and Another — Himachal Pradesh HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Dismissed

Issue for consideration

Whether notifications or Office Memoranda issued by the Central Government or the State Government are binding on the respondent-bank, so that the petitioner ought to have been allowed to continue in service until 60 years of age instead of retiring at 58 under Clause 74(a) of the 1983 Rules. +1 more

Court's answer

Notifications or Office Memoranda of the Central and State Governments are not ipso facto binding on Co-operative Societies; no law indicating otherwise was brought to the Court's notice.

Ratio / Principle

The petitioner's conditions of service are governed by the Jogindra Central Co-operative Bank Employees (Terms of Employment and Working Conditions) Rules, 1983, under which Clause 74(a) prescribes retirement on attaining the age of 58 years.

Key takeaways

The 2001 Rules applicable to employees of Primary Agricultural Credit Co-operative Societies (Clause 12, retirement at 62 years) cannot be relied upon, as the respondent-bank is not shown to be such a society registered as such under the H.P. Co-operative Societies Act.ratio¶20

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Service law – retirement age – co-operative bank employee – Petitioner, an employee of Jogindra Central Cooperative Bank, retired on 31.12.2022 at 58 years in terms of Clause 74(a) of the Jogindra Central Co-operative Bank Employees (Terms of Employment and Working Conditions) Rules, 1983; writ petition filed on 27.09.2023 challenging retirement at 58 and claiming continuance till 60 years on the basis of Government of India Office Memorandum dated 30.05.1998 (Annexure P-5) was dismissed as misconceived. Held: (i) notifications or Office Memoranda of the Central and State Governments are not ipso facto binding on Co-operative Societies; (ii) Clause 74(a) of the 1983 Rules mandatorily fixes retirement at 58 years; (iii) the 2001 Rules prescribing retirement at 62 years for employees of Primary Agricultural Credit Co-operative Societies (Clause 12) do not apply, the bank being neither shown to be nor registered as such a society under the H.P. Co-operative Societies Act. Pending application(s), if any, stand disposed of. (Coram: Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Sushil Kukreja, JJ.; judgment authored by Tarlok Singh Chauhan, J.)

( 2025:HHC:13255 )

IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT SHIMLA

CWP No. 7173 of 2023 Date of decision: 07.05.2025

Shiv Kumar ….Petitioner Versus State of H.P. & Anr. ….Respondents

Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Judge. Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sushil Kukreja, Judge. Whether approved for reporting ?¹

For the Petitioner: Mr. Dinesh Bhanot, Advocate. For the Respondents: Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General with Mr. Ramakant Sharma, Mr. Navlesh Verma, Ms. Sharmila Patial, Mr. Sushant Keprate, Additional Advocates General, Mr. J.S. Guleria and Mr. Raj Negi, Deputy Advocates General, for respondent No. 1/State.

Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, Advocate, for respondent No. 2.

Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Judge (Oral)

Heard. This petition is clearly misconceived.

The petitioner had been serving in Jogindra Central Cooperative Bank and in terms of Clause 74(a) of Jogindra Central Cooperative Bank Employees (Terms of Employment and Working Conditions) Rules, 1983, was to retire on 31.12.2022 on attaining the age of superannuation, i.e. 58 years. The petitioner accordingly retired, but after having retired has chosen to file this petition on 27.09.2023 questioning therein action of the respondent-bank in retiring him at the 1

Whether the reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment ?

2 ( 2025:HHC:13255 )

age of 58 years, ostensibly, backing his claim based on Office Memorandum dated 30.05.1998 (Annexure P-5) issued by the Government of India, increasing the age of retirement of Central Government Employees from 58 years to 60 years.

It is vehemently argued by Mr. Dinesh Bhanot, Advocate, that notifications issued either by the Central Government or by the State Government are binding on the respondent-bank and, therefore, the petitioner ought to have been allowed to continue in service till the completion of 60 years of age.

As observed above, the instant petition is clearly misconceived, as there is no law brought to our notice, which may remotely indicate that notifications or Office Memorandum of the Central and State Governments, as the case may be, are ipso facto binding on the Co-operative Societies, rather, the conditions of service of the petitioner, have been specifically set out in the Rules known as Jogindra Central Co-operative Bank Employees (Terms of Employment and Working Conditions) Rules, 1983, wherein, Clause 74(a) has been clearly prescribed as under:-

“Every employee of the Bank shall retire on attaining the age of 58 years.”

The learned counsel for the petitioner would then place reliance on the Rules relating to “ the terms of Employment and Working Conditions of the Employees of Primary Agricultural Credit Co-operative Societies, 2001” , more particularly, Clause 12 thereof, which prescribes

3 ( 2025:HHC:13255 )

the retirement age of the employees of such society as 62 years.

However, we find no merit in such contention, as the petitioner has not been able to show that the respondent-bank is a Primary Agricultural Credit Co-operative Society and registered as such under the Act so as to make the aforesaid Rules applicable to the respondent-bank. To the contrary, the society has been registered in the name and style of Jogindra Central Co-operative Bank and is otherwise not a Primary Agricultural Credit Co-operative Society and therefore, no reliance can be placed on such rules, which only apply to employees of the Primary Agricultural Credit Co-operative Society and registered as such under the H.P. Co-operative Societies Act.

In view of the aforesaid discussion, we find no merit in the instant petition and the same is accordingly dismissed.

Pending application(s), if any, stand disposed of.

( Tarlok Singh Chauhan ) Judge

( Sushil Kukreja ) Judge

May 07, 2025 (raman)