The Supreme Court has ruled that pensionary benefits cannot be denied to a retired government employee whose unauthorized absence from duty was regularized by treating it as extraordinary leave. The Court held that if an employee’s prolonged absence is regularized in this manner, it does not amount to a “break in service” that would justify denying pensionary benefits.
The bench, comprising Justices BR Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra, heard the case of the appellant, a retired government employee who was prevented from signing the attendance register and performing her duties, resulting in her absence from service. Despite multiple legal proceedings, no departmental inquiry was conducted against her. Eventually, her service was regularized by treating her absence as extraordinary leave. However, her request for pension and retiral benefits was denied on the grounds that her absence did not qualify as service for pension purposes.
Challenging the decisions of the State Administrative Tribunal and the High Court, the appellant approached the Supreme Court. Setting aside the impugned rulings, the Court held that once the appellant’s service had been regularized, her absence could not be treated as a break in service to deny pensionary benefits.
The Court also emphasized that the burden of proving unauthorized absence lay on the respondents, who failed to conduct a departmental inquiry. The Court observed:
“Denial of pensionary benefits to an employee must be based on a specific rule enabling such denial. When an employee’s service has been regularized by treating the period of absence as extraordinary leave, it cannot subsequently be deemed unauthorized leave for the purpose of denying pensionary benefits. The respondents could have denied the pension by proving unauthorized absence through a proper inquiry, rather than by simply refusing to conduct one.”
Accordingly, the Supreme Court allowed the appeal and directed the authorities to finalize the appellant’s pension within three months.
Case Title: Jaya Bhattacharya v. State of West Bengal & Ors.
