The Andhra Pradesh High Court has ruled that prolonged administrative delays by government authorities must not deprive an employee of seniority and service benefits, directing that a compassionate appointee be granted retrospective benefits despite a 16-year delay in his official appointment.
Justice Tarlada Rajasekhar Rao ordered authorities to treat the petitioner, who was eventually appointed in December 2020, as if he had been appointed in 2004 for service-related benefits, including eligibility for the old pension scheme. The court clarified, however, that the petitioner is not entitled to receive back wages for the years prior to his physical joining because he did not perform any work during that period.
Legal Constraints And Pension Rules
The ruling, delivered on July 15, addressed the tension between administrative delays and service regulations. Under Rule 13 of the Andhra Pradesh Revised Pension Rules, 1980, qualifying service only begins upon physically joining duty, meaning the petitioner could not claim an actual, active retrospective appointment from his initial 2004 application date.
To resolve this conflict and prevent the appointment from losing its significance, Justice Rao directed the authorities to take a sympathetic view and consider the petitioner’s request to be appointed retrospectively from 2009. This retrospective date aligns with a revised 2009 government order, allowing the petitioner to claim pension and pension-related benefits under the older scheme.
Origins Of The Administrative Delay
The dispute began following the death of the petitioner’s father on July 8, 2004, who had been working as a lab assistant in a sanctioned post at an aided college. The petitioner submitted an application for a compassionate appointment on August 12, 2004.
While the aided college initiated the proposal and local educational officers recommended it, the government rejected the proposal in October 2006. This rejection cited a ban on compassionate appointments in 2004 and a 1994 government policy which restricted compassionate appointments solely to government offices, excluding aided institutions.
Policy Revision And Final Appointment
The policy landscape changed on October 6, 2009, when the government issued a new order allowing compassionate appointments for eligible children of deceased employees in aided schools. However, due to continued administrative delays, the petitioner was not officially appointed until December 3, 2020.
The petitioner approached the High Court, arguing that had the administrative departments acted promptly, he would have been covered under the older pension scheme instead of the newer contributory pension regime. The High Court agreed that the petitioner should not lose his benefits due to government inaction, ordering the retrospective service benefits to be extended if otherwise admissible.
