Ranchi: The Jharkhand High Court has ruled that employees selected on the basis of recruitment advertisements issued before January 1, 2004, are entitled to benefits under the Old Pension Scheme, even if their actual appointment or joining took place after the New Pension Scheme (NPS) came into effect.
A division bench of Chief Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Rajesh Shankar delivered the order while hearing an appeal in a case related to the recruitment of a Senior Medical Officer at the Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad.
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The institution had issued an advertisement on September 2, 2003, for the said post, clearly stating that the appointee would be eligible for General Provident Fund (GPF) and pension benefits. The respondent, an employee of Indian Telephone Industries Limited at the time, had applied for the position.
Due to delays in the selection process, the respondent was called for an interview on April 3, 2004, and eventually joined the post on June 30, 2004. Meanwhile, the Government of India had notified the New Pension Scheme on December 22, 2003, which became effective from January 1, 2004. Contrary to the terms of the original advertisement, the respondent was placed under the NPS.
After repeated representations requesting transfer to the old pension scheme went unanswered by the authorities, the respondent approached the Jharkhand High Court by filing a writ petition. A single bench of the court had ruled in his favour, stating that he was eligible for the old pension scheme.
Challenging the order, ISM Dhanbad filed an appeal arguing that the respondent joined on June 30, 2004 — well after the cut-off date — and that service conditions in effect at the time of joining should govern the appointment.
However, the division bench rejected this argument and upheld the single bench’s decision, affirming that the terms mentioned in the advertisement prior to January 1, 2004, should prevail and the respondent is entitled to the benefits of the old pension scheme.
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