The ruling was delivered by Justice Anand Singh Baharawat in the case of Purnima Saxena vs State of Madhya Pradesh. The court set aside a government order dated December 14, 2016, which had denied pensionary benefits to the petitioner, and directed the state to comply with the judgment within three months.
The court held that the state government, having taken services from the employee for 28 years on a regular pay scale and having permitted her retirement, could not subsequently deny pension on technical grounds. Such action, the court observed, was unjust, arbitrary, and contrary to settled principles of service law.
The bench ordered that Purnima Saxena’s service be treated as regular with effect from October 27, 1987—the date of her initial appointment. Authorities were directed to prepare her pension case, issue the Pension Payment Order (PPO) and Gratuity Payment Order (GPO), and release pension along with arrears from August 30, 2014, the date of her retirement. In the event of non-compliance within the stipulated period, the state will be liable to pay interest at the rate of 6 percent per annum on the outstanding dues.
In addition, the High Court awarded ₹50,000 as compensation to the petitioner for mental harassment caused due to the prolonged denial of her legitimate retirement benefits.
Clarifying the legal position, the court distinguished between “irregular” and “illegal” appointments. It noted that while illegal appointments violate statutory provisions, irregular appointments—where procedural lapses occur without fraud or wrongdoing by the employee—cannot be used to deny long-term service benefits once the employee has been continued in service for decades.
The court also rejected the state’s argument regarding non-completion of accounting training, observing that the department itself had clarified that such training was not mandatory for a Class-II gazetted post. It further noted that the Public Service Commission had never issued any advertisement prescribing such conditions for the post.
Purnima Saxena was appointed under compassionate grounds as Registrar at PG College, Shivpuri, in 1987 and later transferred to Government PG College, Guna. Despite retiring in 2014, her pension was withheld on the ground that her service was never formally regularised.
The judgment is expected to benefit similarly placed employees across Madhya Pradesh, particularly those who have served the government for long periods under appointments later termed irregular.
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