Uttarakhand HC asks govt to provide pension to 33 temporary employees

The Uttarakhand high court on Friday ordered the state government to provide pension benefits to 33 temporary employees working in the irrigation department, said Lalit Belwal counsel for petitioners.

Belwal said Gopal Singh Rawat and 32 other temporary employees, who had been engaged by the department between 1969 and 1997, were regularised in 2008-09.

“But they were not being given the benefits of the old pre-2005 pension scheme in which they don’t have to contribute anything,” he said.

“They were being given the benefits of the pension under the new scheme that was started after 2005 and their CPD (contributory pension deduction) was being deducted from their salaries after they were regularised in 2008-09,” he said.

The counsel said following the regularisation, Gopal Singh Rawat and 32 other temporary employees filed a petition in 2010, with the plea that they should be provided pension benefits as per the old scheme.

Belwal said he argued in the court that the regularisation of these temporary employees can’t be considered as a new employment and as such, they were eligible to get the pension benefits according to the old pension scheme.

Belwal said after hearing the matter on Friday, the single bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma ordered that these employees be given pension benefits according to the old pension scheme and the CPD that was deducted from their salaries be returned to them with interest.