SHAM DASS SHARMA Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE 24 petitioners herein were the employees of the Municipal Corporation, Amritsar. They retired from the service of the Corporation on different dates from November 30, 1979 to June 30, 1992. They pray for a direction to the respondents to grant them pension "without reference to their date of retirement and that no interest should be claimed from them on the amount of refund which they have to make to the Corporation. . . . . "

(2.) HITHERTOFORE , the employees of the Corporation were governed by a Scheme of Contributory Provident Fund. There were persistent demands for grant of pension. As a result, in December 1989, the Punjab Government decided to introduce a Pension Scheme for the Municipal employees" who retire after April 1, 1990. " A copy of the news item that appeared in the Daily Tribune dated December 17,1989 has been produced as Annexure P-4 with the Writ petition. After further deliberations and consideration of the matter, the Government finally published the Rules called "the Punjab Municipal Corporation Employees Pension and General Provident Fund Rules, 1994. ' These rules were published in the Punjab Government Gazette of July 29, 1994.

(3.) FOR a proper consideration of the submission, it is apt to notice the provisions contained in Rule 1. It provides as under: "1. Short title, commencement and application - (1) These rules may be called the Punjab Municipal Corporation Employees Pension and General Provident Fund Rules, 1994. (2) They shall be deemed to have come into force on and with effect from the first day of April 1990 in the case of employees who are members of the provincialised service of a Corporation, and in the case of employees who are members of a non-provincialised Service of a Corporation, they shall come into force from such date, as the concerned Corporation may, determine, by a resolution passed in this behalf.