The Allahabad High Court has ruled in favor of including ad-hoc service periods along with regular services for the calculation of gratuity and other benefits for teachers at non-governmental aided schools. The decision, issued by Justice JJ Munir, came after hearing a petition from Shyama Devi regarding her late husband’s employment benefits.
Shyama Devi’s husband, Kalandar Tripathi, was initially appointed as an assistant teacher on an ad-hoc basis at Adarsh Inter College in Robertsganj, Sonbhadra in 1988, and became a regular employee in 1998. He passed away in 2012 at the age of 56. After his death, Shyama Devi applied for pension, gratuity, and other benefits, which were denied by the Regional Deputy Director of Education, Vindhya Region, Mirzapur. The rejection was based on a government order dated March 1, 2021, which stated that the qualifying service for pension purposes should be calculated only from the date of regularization, effectively recognizing only 14 years of service, which is insufficient for gratuity eligibility.
The court heard arguments that the March 1, 2021, government order should not apply to Tripathi’s case. His total service, combining ad-hoc and regular periods, amounts to 23 years and three months, qualifying him for gratuity. Justice Munir ruled that for employees of privately aided institutions, the Pension Rules of 1964 should apply, where ad-hoc and regular services are combined to calculate eligible service. The court stated that any amendments made after these rules cannot extinguish rights that have already been accrued.
