BSF cop who resign from services before attainment of age of retirement is not entitled to any pensionary benefits :HC

19/08/2018

JAMMU, Aug 18: State High Court holds that a person who had voluntarily resigned and had rendered only service of 15 years 05 months and 03 days when his resignation was accepted, is not eligible and entitled to any pensionary benefits.
This significant judgment has been passed by Justice Sanjeev Kumar in a petition filed by Mohd. Hafiz Khan seeking direction to respondents to fix and release pension in his favour retrospectively with effect from the date the petitioner was discharged from service i.e. 01.09.1983 and also to pay him the compensation for wrongfully withholding his pension.
The facts of the case is that petitioner came to be appointed as Constable in the Border Security Force (BSF) on 28.02.1968. While the petitioner was posted in 23rd Bn of the BSF, the petitioner tendered his resignation voluntarily and the same was accepted by the competent authority w.e.f. 31.08.1983(A.N.) Since the petitioner had not served for the period qualifying for pension in terms of Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 [CCS(Pension) Rules] read with Rule 19 of the Border Security Force Rules, 1969 (BSF Rules), as such, no pensionary benefits in his favour were sanctioned. Earlier the petitioner had even challenged the acceptance of his resignation in a civil suit filed in the Court of Senior Subordinate Judge, Jalandhar on the ground that the resignation submitted by him was not voluntary. The suit was dismissed on 30.03.1987 and the appeal preferred by the petitioner in the Court of Additional District Judge, Jalandhar was also dismissed on 08.08.1989. The petitioner also filed a writ petition registered as OWP No.325/1998 before this Court for release of pensionary benefits for having rendered 15 years and 5 months of service in the BSF. Justice Sanjeev Kumar after hearing both the sides observed that a bare reading of Rule 19 of the BSF Rules would make it clear that though a member of the Force will not have right to resign without the prior permission of the prescribed authority, yet the prescribed authority may permit a member of the BSF to resign in certain special circumstances as enumerated under Rule 19. As is evident from the reading of Rule 19, the Rule in itself does create any right to pension and the same is regulated by CCS(Pension) Rules. The CCS (Pension) Rules clearly provide that an employee to be eligible to claim pension must have completed the qualifying service of 20 years. Admittedly, the petitioner did not have requisite qualifying service to his credit and was, therefore, rightly not held entitled to the pensionary benefits by the respondents. The similar question was involved in a batch of appeals which came up for consideration before the Supreme Court in the case of Rakesh Kumar (supra) and the Supreme Court after threadbare discussion of Rule 19 of the BSF Rules and CCS(Pension) rules with particular reference to Rule 35, 36, 48 and 48-A, ruled that the members of BSF who were permitted to resign from services under Rule 19 of the BSF Rules before attainment of the age of retirement or before putting such number of years of service as may be necessary under Rules to be eligible for retirement were not entitled to get any pension under any of the provision of the CCS(Pension) Rules.
With these observations High Court dismissed the petition. JNF

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