Chandigarh, July 27: The Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled that long and uninterrupted service rendered on a part-time, temporary, or contractual basis prior to regularisation must be counted as qualifying service for pension benefits.
The decision ensures that eligible employees cannot be excluded from the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) solely because their official regularisation occurred after the implementation of the New Pension Scheme (NPS).
“Excluding valuable service rendered prior to regularisation merely because the initial engagement was on a part-time basis results in manifest injustice,” asserted Justice Harpreet Singh Brar while delivering the common judgment.
Disposing of a batch of 95 writ petitions, the court also extended OPS coverage to candidates whose recruitment drives began before the cut-off date but experienced delayed appointments due to administrative lags.
Counsel Himanshu Malik argued during proceedings that pre-regularisation service holds full legal validity under established judicial precedents and state policy frameworks.
Addressing state objections regarding part-time service rules, the court declared that the binding division bench precedent in “State of Haryana versus Jai Bhagwan” governs the legal position until evaluated by a larger bench.
