Didar Singh v. State of Punjab & Ors.

CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.S.GAREWAL HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE DAYA CHAUDHARY Present: Mr. Daldeep Singh, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. P.C. Goyal, Senior Deputy Advocate General, Punjab. K.S.GAREWAL, J. Didar Singh was recruited as a constable in Punjab Armed Police (PAP) on July 24, 1964. Didar Singh's battalion was airlifted to Jammu & Kashmir in April, 1965. On October 1, 1966, Didar Singh's battalion (22 Bn.) was re-designated as 6 Bn. Haryana Armed Police (HAP). On April 1, 1969, 6 Bn. Haryana Armed Police was embodied as 69 Bn. Border Security Force (BSF). Thereafter, the petitioner resigned from BSF on October 12, 1971 and was issued a discharge certificate on October 14, 1971 wherein it was certified that the petitioner served in BSF from July 24, 1964 upto October 12, 1971 (date of his resignation from CWP No. 17007 of 2005 2 BSF). The petitioner was again re-employed and recruited as Constable in Punjab Police on May 23, 1972 and served until December 31, 2001, when he retired on superannuation in the rank of ASI. The sole grouse of the petitioner is that he has been denied pensionary benefits for the service rendered by him in the State of Haryana. According to the petitioner, he re-joined Punjab Police in 1972 and became entitled to the benefit of his previous service in BSF. When he learnt that he was denied this benefit he represented to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Jalandhar on September 16, 1990, copy of the representation is Annexure P/2. His representation was sent to his BSF unit for confirmation of his service and many letters were exchanged between S.S.P, Jalandhar and BSF but to no avail. Finally, a certificate was issued by the Commandant 59 Bn. BSF, the contents of which are re-produced hereunder:- “It is certified that No. 69599352 Head Constable Didar Singh, s/o Sh. Bahadur Singh, R/o village Marrypur, Post-Khera dona, Teh. Sultanpur, Distt. Kapurthala (Punjab) was recruited as Constable in 22nd BN PAP on 20.07.1964 which later on re- designed as 7 Haryana Armed Police and further embodied in BSF on 1st April 1969 as 59 BN BSF. It is also certified that HC Didar Singh resigned the BSF on 12 Oct. 1971 of his own accord. His character at the time of leaving the service was described as “GOOD”. His service from 24.07.1964 to

11.10.1971 has been verified from available records of the Battalion.” The above certificate was made the basis of further certification CWP No. 17007 of 2005 3 of service issued by S.S.P., Jalandhar, on April 24, 2004, copy of which is Annexure P/14-A. Hereunder, sanction was accorded to count the petitioner's previous service from July 24, 1964 to October 11, 1971 towards pension. Break in service from October 22, 1971 to May 22, 1972 was condoned. However, the Government declined to give the benefit of service rendered by the petitioner in the State of Haryana, vide order dated April 7, 2005 Annexure P/15 which drove the petitioner to file the present petition. In the written statement filed by the official respondents the stand of the Government has been reiterated and it is stated that there is no provision in the Punjab Government instructions for counting service rendered in Haryana towards pensionary benefits. Reply has also been filed by the Deputy Accountant General (Pension) in which a slightly different stand has been taken. The Accountant General has stated that S.S.P. Jalandhar was advised to take sanction from the Finance Department regarding the previous service of the petitioner, as that department was the only authority who could do so. The Accountant General undertook to finalize the petitioner's case as soon as sanction from the Finance Department is received. This case is an amazing example of how bureaucracy can confuse and confound an issue without looking at basic facts. The petitioner joined PAP in undivided Punjab on July 24, 1964. The petitioner's battalion was airlifted to Jammu & Kashmir in 1965 and while it was stationed there, it was redesigned as 6 Bn. HAP, a few years later it was absorbed in BSF. The petitioner served in BSF upto October 12, 1971 when he resigned. The discharge certificate issued by the BSF on October CWP No. 17007 of 2005 4 14, 1971 discloses that the petitioner had served in the force from July 24, 1964 to October 12, 1971 and was discharged on his request. The petitioner's case is covered by Rule 12.24 of the Punjab Police Rules which permit a Constable to count his past service for pension under certain conditions. These conditions relate to production of discharge certificate showing the previous service, age of re-enrollment must be below 30, the break in service between the dates of enrollment and discharge from previous army service shall not exceed two years (in the petitioner's case break in service is only from October 12, 1971 May 23, 1972—about 7 months). When the conditions are fulfilled the claim to count previous service shall be dealt with under Rules 9.2, 9.3 and 9.29. We have gone through the relevant rules and find that there is no provision which dis-entitles the petitioner from counting the service rendered by him in the State of Haryana towards pensionary benefits, the previous service in Haryana is not a disqualification. As a matter of fact, no such rule has been pointed out. When the previous service in BSF, which is a central para-military force, can be counted towards service why should service in Haryana not be so counted ? Furthermore, the petitioner's service in HAP from October 1, 1966 to April 1, 1969 came to be merged with service in BSF when his battalion was merged with that force. It defies logic that his service before the formation of HAP was counted towards service but the intervening period of 2-1/2 years has been ignored. The petitioner's discharge certificate shows that he served BSF from July 24, 1964 to October 12, 1971, but a later certificate, which has been re-produced above, clarified that he had for a short time served in PAP and for some time in HAP. The fact remains that his entire service till his resignation from BSF CWP No. 17007 of 2005 5 was taken to be service in that force. Therefore, this petition deserves to be allowed. The order of the Punjab Government dated April 7, 2005 (Annexure P/15) is hereby set aside. The petitioner's entire service from the date of his initial recruitment in PAP till his retirement on superannuation from Punjab Police shall be counted towards his service without any break in service. This petition is disposed of accordingly. The petitioner shall be entitled to Rs. 5,000/- as costs. (K.S. GAREWAL) JUDGE

9.7.2008 (DAYA CHAUDHARY) JUDGE