M.R. Agnihotri, J. - (1.) THIS judgment shall dispose of two writ petitions Nos. 1570 and 3196 of 1989, which have been filed by the retired officers of the State of Haryana - -ten in number, whose grievance is against the method of calculating pension and the manner of its payment.
(2.) THE Petitioners joined service in the erstwhile States of Punjab and Pepsu prior to 1st November, 1956. With the reorganisation of the States under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, the Petitioners were integrated as the employees of the newly formed State of Punjab. The Petitioners continued to serve as employees of the State of Punjab upto 31st October, 1966 and with effect from 1st November, 1966, they were allocated to the successor State of Haryana. It is from the State of Haryana that the Petitioners have retired from service with effect from various dates - -all of them prior to 1st June, 1988. On the recommendations of the Fourth Pay Commission set for the purposes of examining the prevalent structure of emoluments and conditions of service of the employees, as also for examining with a view to having a proper pension structure for the pensioners, both past and future, the State of Haryana revised pay scales of its employees with effect from 1st January, 1986. The decision of the state Government regarding revision and liberalization of pensionary benefits was circulated on 3rd November, 1988, followed by another communication issued on the same date, Annexures P/2 and P/3 respectively, while pensionary benefits of various nature were provided in the aforesaid policy letters as also dated 23rd January, 1989 (Annexure P/4) With regard to the method of calculation of pension and the manner in which the same was to be paid. It is against these decisions that the Petitioners have approached this Court with the following grievances: (1) Though the rates of pension, for the employees who retired on or after 1st January, 1986, have been revised, yet" the term 'emoluments' for the purpose of calculating various retirement and pensionary benefits shall mean 'basic pay' as defined in Rule 2.44(a)(i) of the Punjab Civil Services Rules, Volume I, Part 1 i.e., excluding "special pay" therefrom. (2) A rider has been added in the policy decision that "arrears of all kinds becoming payable on the basis of implementation of the order upto 30th June, 1988, may be paid in the form of long term deposits in National Savings Certificates/National Savings Schemes", that is, not in cash.
(3.) SO far as the second grievance of the Petitioners regarding payment of arrears of pensionary benefits is concerned, this Court has already struck down this very rider contained in the aforesaid policy letter dated 3rd November, 1988 (Annexure P. 2) in its judgment in Jagdev Krishan Nanda and Ors. v. The State of Haryana and Anr. CWP. 1990 of 1989, decided on 11th August, 1989, dated 11th August, 1989. It was held therein that such a rider could not be introduced in the statutory rules by executive instructions, in the face of statutory rules providing to the contrary. Resultantly, in that judgment, a direction was issued to the State Government to the effect that "the benefits as a result of the implementation of the decision contained in letter dated 3rd November, 1988, shall be worked out and paid to the Petitioners and other employees similarly situated in cash, within a period of four months." Therefore, this grievance of the Petitioners stands redressed. As a necessary consequence, similar directions contained in letters dated 3rd November, 1988 (Annexure P/3,) and dated 23rd January, 1989 (Annexure P/4), regarding investment of the arrears of pensionary benefits in National Savings Certificates/National Savings Schemes also stand quashed.;