State of West Bengal and ors. v. Aswini Kumar Mahato - (Supreme Court) (23 Jun 2016)

Government employee can face pension cuts if found guilty in department inquiry

Service

A person found to have caused pecuniary loss to an authority by reason of misconduct or negligence can be punished despite having reached the age of superannuation, so long as department proceedings commenced prior to his retirement.

The Supreme Court was confronted with the query: whether pension can be reduced after a person reaches the age of superannuation, as result of a department mental inquiry finding him culpable for pecuniary loss. In an earlier ruling the Calcutta High Court had held the master-servant relationship to have ceased after the employee reached retirement age. And by the West Bengal Service (Death-cum-Retirement Benefit) Rules 1971, once an employee was allowed to retire having attained the age of superannuation, government authority had no jurisdiction to pass an order in a disciplinary proceeding.

A two-judge bench of Justices Goel and Khanwilkar, however, readily accepted the arguments of the Appellant: pension could yet be withheld if pecuniary loss was caused by the employee. They reiterated that departmental proceedings could continue not only in instances of pecuniary loss but also of “grave misconduct or negligence”.

Relevant : State of West Bengal & Ors. v. Pronab Chakraborty MANU/SC/0998/2014

Tags : DEPARTMENTAL INQUIRY FORMER EMPLOYEE PENSION