Supreme Court upholds grant of pension of regular Nb Sub to Honorary Nb Subedars who retired prior to 2006
On the basis of the 6th CPC recommendations, the govt had issued a notification granting pension based on the pay-scale of regular Naib Subedar to Havildars granted the Honorary Rank of Naib Subedar. Though the said notification contained only a stipulation that it would be applicable with (financial) effect from 01-01-2006, it nowhere stated that it shall only apply to those who retired after 01-01-2006 and not those who retired prior to this cut-off date. It was still however being negatively interpreted by the concerned authorities that it was to apply only to post-2006 retirees. The Chandigarh Bench of the AFT in Feb 2010 had however struck down this restrictive interpretation of the imaginary cut-off date and had ruled that the benefit shall be available to all Hony Nb Subs irrespective of date of retirement.
The Ministry of Defence had challenged the said orders in the Hon’ble Supreme Court by way of an SLP. The SLP was dismissed last week thereby upholding the orders of the AFT.
Interestingly, the Army HQrs, even before the issuance of the said notification, had pointed out to the MoD, a fact which is on record, that there should be explicit orders for both pre and post-2006 retirees. But the very fair request of the PS Directorate it seems fell on deaf ears thereby leading to unnecessary litigation on the subject.
Navdeep's Blog
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