Service Period Of Daily Wage Required To Be Consider For Grant Of Retiral Benefits: Rajasthan HC

The Rajasthan High Court, while granting relief to a former driver of Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation Ltd, stated that the services he provided as a daily wager would be “taken into account while computing twenty years of qualifying service” for the grant of pensionary benefits.

Referring to the 2015 regulations, a single-judge Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur stated, “there cannot be two opinions that petitioner who has worked on daily wages basis is not entitled to getting the services included for the purpose of computation of twenty years of qualifying service.”

The bench noted that by accepting the petitioner’s application for voluntary retirement, the respondents admitted that the petitioner had completed qualifying service of twenty years. The court was hearing the retired driver’s writ petition against the Executive Director of RSRTC’s order.

Bhagwan Singh, the petitioner, was denied retiral benefits because he had not completed twenty years of qualifying service on the date of his voluntary retirement. He worked as a Driver on a daily wage basis from 1995 to 1999, after which his service was regularized in 1999.

The petitioner approached the respondents by submitting a detailed request for voluntary retirement benefits. The petitioner was denied retiral benefits under the impugned order, which was issued in 2022, because he had not completed 20 years of qualifying service.

According to the Rules, the petitioner has completed more than twenty years of qualifying service, according to his counsel. As a result of seeking voluntary retirement in accordance with Rule 18(D)(2) of the Rajasthan State Road Transport Workers and Workshop Employees Standing Orders, 1965, he is entitled to all retiral dues, he submitted.

The period spent on a daily wage basis must be taken into account when computing the twenty-year period, according to Regulation 18(D)(2) of the Orders of 1965, the counsel contended.

The single bench stated that “a plain reading of the Explanation given in the Notification dated 12/10/2015 Regulation 18(D)(2) Voluntary retirement” shows that “a period of twenty years spent on duty as Permanent, Temporary, and Officiating basis will be taken into consideration while computing the qualifying service of an employee in the respondent Department.”

It stated that the Corporation’s intention is very clear that those working in various capacities, including casual and temporary, are required to be given benefit of the services rendered by them for the computation of qualifying service for pension.

In light of the foregoing, the order rejecting the retiral benefits was set aside.