Rajasthan High Court Grants Relief To RSRTC Driver, Says Service Period Of Daily Wage Required To Be Taken Into Account For Grant Of Retiral Benefits

Granting relief to a former driver of Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation Ltd, the Rajasthan High Court said the services rendered by him as daily wager shall be “taken into account while computing twenty years of qualifying service” for the grant of the pensionary benefits.Referring to the 2015 regulations, the bench of Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur said, “there cannot be two opinions that petitioner who has worked on daily wages basis is not entitled for getting the services included for the purpose of computation of twenty years of qualifying service.”The court noted that, by accepting the application for voluntary retirement of the petitioner, the respondents themselves admitted that the petitioner has completed qualifying service of twenty years. The court was hearing the writ petition filed by the retired driver against the order of the Executive Director of RSRTC.The petitioner was denied retiral benefits on the ground that he had not completed twenty years of qualifying service on the date of his voluntary retirement He had served as a Driver on a daily wage basis from 1995 to 1999, thereafter his service was regularized in the year 1999.The petitioner approached the respondents by way of filing a detailed representation for voluntary retiral benefits. The impugned order, issued in 2022, denied the retiral dues to the petitioner on the grounds that he had not completed 20 years of qualifying service.The counsel for petitioner argued that he has completed more than twenty years of qualifying service as per the Rules. Therefore, he is entitled for all the retiral dues on account of seeking voluntary retirement in accordance with Rule 18(D)(2) of the Rajasthan State Road Transport Workers And Workshop Employees Standing Orders, 1965, he submitted.While computing the period of twenty years, the period spent on daily wages basis is required to be taken into consideration as prescribed in Regulation 18(D)(2) of the Orders of 1965 ,the counsel argued.The court opined that, “a plain reading of the Explanation given in the Notification dated 12/10/2015 ( Regulation 18(D)(2) Voluntary retirement) shows that while computing the qualifying service of an employee in the respondent Department, period of twenty years spent on duty as Permanent, Temporary &/or Officiating basis will be taken into consideration”.It said the intention of the Corporation is very clear that those persons who are working in different capacities including casual and temporary are required to be given benefit of the services rendered by them for computation of qualifying service for pension. The court also noted that the Notification “only envisages the Explanation” of qualifying service “for the purpose of pension” and not for any other purpose.In light of the above, the order for rejection of the retiral benefits was set aside.“Service period of daily wages basis rendered by the petitioner from 1995 till 1999 is required to be taken into account for computation of the period of twenty years in case of the petitioner for the purpose of granting retiral benefits,” said the court.Case Title:Bhagwan Singh v. State Of Rajasthan& ors.Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Raj) 38Counsel for petitioner: Hapu Ram VishnoiCounsel for respondents: P.R. Singh JodhaClick Here To Read/Download Order

Rajasthan High Court Grants Relief To RSRTC Driver, Says Service Period Of Daily Wage Required To Be Taken Into Account For Grant Of Retiral Benefits

Aiman J. Chishti

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