Postal Dept Cannot Deny Pension To Temporary Employee After Decades Of Service For Want Of Formal Regularisation: HP High Court

The Himachal Pradesh High Court held that a temporary employee of the Postal Department, who had rendered more than two decades of continuous service after the grant of temporary status, could not be denied pensionary benefits merely because a formal order of regularisation was not issued before his retirement. The Court remarked that Union of India could not take advantage of their own inaction in not issuing a formal regularisation order, and the denial of pension was contrary to the settled law and applicable rules.Division Bench of Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Ranjan Sharma remarked that: “Inaction of the respondents… in exploiting the petitioner by treating him as 'temporary employee' despite having rendered whole time service for more than 20-23 years continuously, is calculated design and an exploitative methodology to deny the petitioner of the accrued right for pensionary benefits.” The petitioners were the widow and sons of late Mehar Chand, who was engaged as a part-time chowkidar/water carrier in a post office in Himachal Pradesh in 1983. Even though he was hired as a part-time worker, he was made to work for long hours continuously. Later in 1989, he was granted temporary status and was treated at par with temporary group 'D' employees. However, in 2012, he was denied pension benefits. Aggrieved, he approached the Central Administrative Tribunal, but he passed away during the pendency of the case. The Central Administrative Tribunal rejected the claim for regularisation on the ground that no junior employee had been regularised prior to his superannuation.The High Court remarked that the A Court or Tribunal cannot, at its own, proceed to adjudicate one out of more reliefs and proceed not to adjudicate other reliefs. The non-adjudication of the claim resulted in a miscarriage of justice to the petitioner. Relying on the Supreme Court's judgement Jagrit Mazdoor Union V/s MTNL, 1990, the court remarked that “Continuous and uninterrupted temporary service rendered as whole time for more than 20-23 years, as was performable by the regular employees could neither be wiped out nor obliterated for pensionary purposes.”Thus, the Court set aside the Tribunal's order and held that the deceased was entitled to regularisation and pensionary benefits from the date of superannuation. Case Name: Soma Devi & others v/s Union of India and others Case No.: CWP No.3241 of 2016Date of Decision: 21.11.2025For the Petitioner: Mr. Pawan Gautam, Advocate.For the Respondent: Mr. Balram Sharma, Deputy Solicitor General of India with Mr. Rajeev Sharma, AdvocateClick Here To Read/Download Order

Postal Dept Cannot Deny Pension To Temporary Employee After Decades Of Service For Want Of Formal Regularisation: HP High Court

Mehak Aggarwal

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