In a petition filed before the Allahabad High Court, against an order of the University Grants Commission (UGC), whereby the benefit of pension was denied to the petitioners, a Single Judge Bench of Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery held that even after the subject institute became a constituent of the Allahabad University, it remained autonomous which is why the petitioners did not have an absolute right to be granted the benefit of the General Provident Fund Scheme and dismissed the petition.
The petitioners were appointed to various posts at the Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad, registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860, whose finances were provided by the Government of India and the Government of Uttar Pradesh, as it was an autonomous institution.
In 2005, the University of Allahabad was recognised as a Central University and adopted as a constituent institution of the University of Allahabad under the provisions of the University of Allahabad Act, 2005. It was the claim of the petitioners that by becoming a constituent institution of the University of Allahabad, they were entitled to all benefits granted to the employees of a Central University, including the benefit of pension.
The claim was rejected by the University Grants Commission (UGC), which said the CCS Pension Rules did not apply to any new entrant. The petitioners submitted that they had not been granted the benefit of the pension scheme, whereas other employees appointed before 2005 were getting a pension.
The Court referred to various cases and said that in the absence of any specific provision regarding the General Provident Fund Scheme, and only because an institution became a constituent of Allahabad University, the petitioners could not be granted the benefit of the General Provident Fund Scheme. It was also stated that, even after becoming a constituent, the institution remained autonomous and its finances were handled independently by the central government.
Further, the Court stated that there was no absolute right for the petitioners to be granted the benefit of the General Provident Fund Scheme and that, since there was no change in the institution’s constitution, the petitioners’ claim had no force.
Thus, the Court found no ground to interfere with the impugned order and dismissed the petition accordingly.
Appearances:
For Petitioners – Alok Mishra, Ishir Sripat, Rahul Sripat
For Respondents – Amrendra Pratap Singh, Chandan Sharma, Manoj Kumar Singh, Radhey Krishna Pandey, Ram Gopal Tripathi, Ritvik Upadhyay, Shailendra, Shashi Prakash Singh, V.K. Singh
