Government employees retired before 2006 will get a revised pension:HC

New Delhi, April 6, 2013(Agencies): The Delhi High Court has held that all government employees who retired before 2006 will get a revised pension according to the Sixth Central Pay Commission.

The Delhi High Court passed the judgement which will provide a huge financial windfall to former government employees.

Rejecting the government’s plea that the pre-2006employees would get the increased pension only from 2012, the court directed the authorities to give retired employees the increased pension from 2006 itself.
The sixth pay commission, which had raised thesalaries of government employees by a significant amount, was implemented in 2006.
The landmark judgment would almost double the pension amount of the government employees, including both Central government and state government employees.
A bench of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and V Kameswar Rao gave strict directions to the government to give the arrear to the pensioners within two months.
The court said if the government fails to do so, it will have to pay the pending amount to the retired employees at a whopping interest of 9 per cent.
The bench said: “Mandamus is issued to the respondents to re-fix the pension of the petitioners accordingly within a period of two months. In case, the arrears are not paid within a period of two months, it will also carry interest at 9% with effect from 01.03.2013.”
The court was hearing an appeal filed by the Central government challenging the Central Administrative Tribunal’s (CAT) 2009 order which had said that government employees who retired before 2006 were also entitled to the benefits of the sixth pay commission.
The CAT had passed the order on a petition filed by the Central Government Pensioners Association.
While ruling in favour of the employees, the high court bench pointed out that even the government has admitted that employees who retired prior to 2006 deserved revised pension as per the sixth pay commission.
The bench said: “The government of India has tacitly admitted that it was in the wrong and that the tribunal is correct. We conclude by noting that as regards the substance of the view taken by the Tribunal, even the Central Government accepts its correctness, but insists to make the same applicable prospectively.”
The government proposed that those employees who retired before 2006 be given revised pension from 2012 but not 2006 as pleaded by the Central Government Pensioners Association. The court, however, ruled in favour of the employees.
Courtesy- Daily Mail