LHC rules five years’ continuous service qualifies govt employee for pension

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ruled that a government employee who completes five years of continuous service is entitled to pension and other related benefits.

A two-member bench, headed by Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabbir, dismissed an appeal filed by the Punjab government and upheld an earlier single-bench ruling directing the authorities to provide pension and other benefits to Kaneeza Fatima, the widow of a deceased government employee.

According to court records, Kaneeza Fatima’s husband was appointed as a naib qasid in the Health Department on a contract basis in 2005 and was regularised in 2010. He died in 2016.

The Punjab government had argued that a minimum of 10 years of service was required to qualify for pension and other benefits, and that the 10-year qualifying service for pension had to be regular service.

The government maintained that the period served on a contract basis could not be counted towards pension, leaving the employee with only five years of regular service.

The court, however, noted that the deceased employee had completed five years of continuous contractual service before being regularised.

Referring to a Supreme Court judgment, the bench observed that contractual service could not be counted if the employee’s service had not been continuous before regularisation.

In the present case, however, the employee’s service had remained uninterrupted.

The Lahore High Court held that, based on the facts of the case, the deceased employee was entitled to pension and other benefits and could not be deprived of his pension rights.

The Punjab government’s counsel had also argued that the single bench had issued an unlawful order while sitting in chambers.

The two-member bench rejected the contention, observing that there was nothing unlawful in the single bench’s decision.

The court consequently dismissed the Punjab government’s appeal and upheld the order granting pension and other benefits to the widow, Kaneeza Fatima.