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SANJAY KISHAN KAUL, J.

1. Employees resigned from service. We are concerned with one employee of the Life Insurance Corporation of India; one employee of the United India Insurance Company Limited and a batch of employees of Andhra Bank. These employees resigned when the pension schemes in respect of these institutions in question were not in force. The pension schemes came into force subsequently, but with retrospective effect. The question, which, thus, arose was whether these employees, who had resigned from service post the date from which the pension schemes were made applicable, but prior to the date on which the schemes got notified, would be entitled to the benefit of the pension schemes in question. A Bench of two Judges of this Court found that there was a divergence of judicial views of this Court, and the matter needed to be examined by a larger Bench. The reference order was passed in CA No.14739/2015 and that is how the matter is before us.

SLP(C) Nos.5716-5719 of 2016

38. Leave granted.

39. The appellants in this case were employees of the respondent- Bank, viz., Andhra Bank, who resigned from service during the window period of 1991 and 1993 after giving three months’ notice. The grounds for resignation varied. The employees were governed by the then 16 (supra) existing Service Rules, being the Andhra Bank Officers’ Service Regulations, 1982. It was much later that Andhra Bank (Employees) Pension Regulations, 1995 (for short ‘Pension Regulations’) were introduced, effective from its date of notification. There was no retrospectivity involved in this case. But the Pension Regulations were made applicable for employees, who ‘retired’ on or after 01.01.1986 but before 01.11.1993.