The High Court of Kerala dismissed an appeal regarding pensionary benefits. The court held that broken spells of service in an aided college could not be counted for pension under Rule 14E(b) of Part III KSR because the appellant failed to satisfy its conditions, affirming the Division Bench decision in Shameer Ali.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.K.JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR
&
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE MOHAMMED NIAS C.P.
MONDAY, THE 22ND DAY OF NOVEMBER 2021 / 1ST AGRAHAYANA,
1943
WA NO. 146 OF 2020
AGAINST THE JUDGMENT DATED 26.07.2019 IN WP(C) No.693/2019 OF HIGH COURT OF KERALA
APPELLANT/PETITIONER IN THE WRIT PETITION(CIVIL):
SAJEEV JOSEPH AGED 56 YEARS S/O. P. D. JOSEPH, PUTHENPARAMBIL, MARIA NIVAS, KADAVANCHIRA NORTH, THRIKKUDITHANAM P. O., CHANGANACHERRY, PIN - 686 105.
BY ADVS. SRI.P.CHANDRASEKHAR SRI.K.K.MOHAMED RAVUF SRI.D.SREEKANTH SHRI. ANOOP KRISHNA
RESPONDENTS/RESPONDENTS IN THE WRIT PETITION (CIVIL):
:2:
W.A.No146 of 2020
BY SENIOR GOVERNMENT PLEADER SRI.PREMCHAND R NAIR
THIS WRIT APPEAL HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 22.11.2021, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
:3:
W.A.No146 of 2020
JUDGMENT
A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar, J.
The petitioner in WP(C).No.693 of 2019 is the appellant before us, aggrieved by the judgment dated 26.07.2019 of the learned Single Judge.
The appellant retired as an Associate Professor from the St. Alosius College, Edathua, Alappuzha on 31.03.2018. He was initially appointed as provisional Lecturer English in the said college for the period from 05.01.1988 to 31.03.1988. The said appointment was duly approved by the Syndicate of the Mahatma Gandhi University by Ext.P2 order dated 15.04.1988. The next spell of appointment of the appellant was for a period from 02.06.1988 to 30.08.1988, which spell of appointment was also approved by the Syndicate of the University. The appellant was, thereafter, again appointed for the period 31.08.1988 to 07.10.1988 as it borne out by Ext.P4 appointment order and the said
:4:
W.A.No146 of 2020
appointment was also approved by Ext.P6 order dated 08.12.1988. Thereafter, he was again appointed for the period from 04.01.1989 to 31.05.1993 by Ext.P5 appointment order to a leave vacancy of Sri.Eapen Kurian P.E, Lecturer in English in the said college. The said appointment was also approved by Ext.P7 order dated 16.03.1989. Thereafter, with effect from 01.06.1993, the appellant was appointed to a regular retirement vacancy consequent to the retirement of Sri.K.V.Joseph, Selection Grade Lecturer with effect from 01.06.1993. The said appointment of the appellant was also approved by Ext.P9 order dated 08.08.1994.
:5:
W.A.No146 of 2020
pensionary benefits, the alternate contention was that at the very least the service from 04.01.1989 ought to count for such pensionary benefits since the service from that date onwards was continuous and uninterrupted till the date of retirement.
:6:
W.A.No146 of 2020
found that, merely because the broken spells of service claimed by the appellant were reckoned for the purposes of increment, it did not follow that the said spells of service could be reckoned for the purposes of pensionary benefits. In particular, reference was made to the provisions of Rule 14E (b) of Part III Kerala Service Rules (hereinafter referred to as 'the KSR'), which the learned Judge found applicable to the case of the appellant. The learned Judge found that the appellant did not satisfy the conditions under the said Rule for the broken spells of service to qualify for pensionary benefits. The Writ Petition was, therefore, dismissed following the judgment of the Division Bench referred above.
:7:
W.A.No146 of 2020
the purposes of sanctioning various service benefits such as Senior Grade placement etc. The contention essentially is that the said broken spells of service rendered by the appellant at least from 04.01.1989 should be reckoned for the purposes of pensionary benefits as well. The learned counsel also relied on Ext.P13 judgment that was rendered by the very same Single Judge, who rendered the impugned judgment, to point out that on an earlier occasion the learned Judge had held that the similar broken spells of service followed by regular service could be reckoned for the purposes of pensionary benefits.
:8:
W.A.No146 of 2020
force on the date of commencement of the former Act shall, in so far as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of the former Act, continue to be in force in respect of the areas covered under the said Act until they are replaced by the Statutes and Ordinances to be made under the former Act. Sub Section 4 of Section 99 further makes it clear that the provisions of Sections 4 and 23 of the Interpretation & General Clauses Act, 1125 shall also apply in the context of the Mahatma Gandhi University Act, 1985. Part B of Chapter 45 of the Mahatma Gandhi University Statutes, 1997 deals with conditions of service of teachers in private colleges. Statute 24 under the said Chapter, which deals with increments, provides that a private college teacher thrown out of service for want of vacancy and again reappointed after a break in the same post or in another post carrying the same time scale of pay can count his prior service for the purposes of increment under Rule 33(a) read with Rule 12 (35) (b) of Part I of the KSR. Statute 42 under the same Chapter that deals with application of the KSR to the teacher provides only that the Rules contained in Parts I and II of the KSR for the time being in force except those specified in the said Statute will so far as may be applied to teachers of private colleges under the University as well. It is relevant to note in this context that a reference to Part III of the KSR is conspicuously absent in Statute 42 of Chapter 45 of the Mahatma Gandhi University Statutes, 1997.
:9:
W.A.No146 of 2020
:10:
W.A.No146 of 2020
teacher in question satisfied the six specific conditions mentioned in Rule 14E (b) of Part III KSR, the prior service rendered in the aided private colleges prior to entering into regular service in the same college, could not be reckoned for the purposes of pension. On the facts of the case before us, we have not been shown any material that would suggest that the appellant satisfied the conditions mentioned in Clauses I to VI under Rule 14E (b) of Part III KSR. Under such circumstances, we see no reason to interfere with the judgment of the learned Single Judge, which we affirm inasmuch as it has merely followed the judgment of the Divisions Bench of this Court in Shameer Ali (supra) .
The Writ Appeal is dismissed as above.
Sd/-
A.K.JAYASANKARAN NAMBIAR JUDGE
Sd/- MOHAMMED NIAS C.P. JUDGE
mns
2 issues framed by the court
Whether broken spells of service rendered in an aided college prior to regular appointment can be reckoned for pensionary benefits if conditions under Rule 14E(b) of Part III Kerala Service Rules are
Whether a rule denying pensionary benefits for such service is discriminatory and unconstitutional when similar service benefits are reckoned for other purposes?
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Shameer Ali v. Deputy Director of Collegiate EducationRelied on¶37
[2018 (3) KLT 925]
2 provisions across 2 enactments
Sajeev Joseph
The State of Kerala
The Accounts Officer (Pension) Director of Collegiate Education
The Accountant General (A & E) Kerala
The Principal St. Alosius College Edathua
A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar
Mohammed Nias C.P.
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
