The State is in appeal before us in this writ appeal, aggrieved by the judgment dated 26.02.2018 of the learned Single Judge in WP(C)No.36332 of 2017. The issue that arose for consideration before the learned Single Judge was with regard to the counting of earlier periods of broken service put in by the writ petitioners while computing the qualifying service for pensionary benefits under the Kerala Education Act and Rules. The learned Single Judge relying on the judgment of a Single Bench in Sabu Mathew v. State of Kerala [2017 (4) KLT 501] found that although the earlier periods of broken service were rendered by the writ petitioners as unqualified persons, their not having completed the period of stipulated training while rendering the service, the said broken spells of service had in fact been approved by the Government. It is also found, placing reliance on the judgment dated 9.8.2017 of another learned Single Judge in WP(C)No.5895 of 2011 that the said issue as regards counting of such service for the purposes of the pension had already been decided in favour of the petitioners. The learned Judge thereafter, taking note of the specific provisions of Rule 5 (3) of Chapter XXXI KER, that stipulated that under-qualified service can also be treated as a qualifying service for pension in the case of the
