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CASE NO.: Appeal (civil)  494 of 2002 Appeal (civil)  8508 of 2003

PETITIONER: The State of Tamilnadu                             

RESPONDENT: S. Sebastin & Ors.                                         

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 29/10/2003

BENCH: S. RAJENDRA BABU & P. VENKATARAMA REDDI

JUDGMENT: JUDGMENT  With  

arising outS.L.P.(C) No. 21676/2001

P. Venkatarama Reddi, J.  

Leave granted in S.L.P.(C) No. 21676/2001. 1.              The respondents were appointed as Conductors/  Drivers on daily-wage basis in the then Madras State  Transport Department (MSTD). Their services were  regularized one or two years later. When the Pallavan  Transport Corporation and Kattabomman Transport  Corporation were formed, they were sent on deputation to  the said Corporations which were bifurcated subsequently  and they were permanently absorbed in the service of the  said Corporations after calling for options from the  respondents. By G.O.No. 1028 (Transport) dated 23.9.1985  read with G.O.No. 284 (Finance) dated 31.3.1980, the cutoff  date for the purpose of eligibility to pension in respect of the  erstwhile State Transport Department employees was fixed  as 1.5.1975. Later on i.e., by G.O.MS.No. 250 (Transport)  dated 18.11.1996 the crucial date was changed to  15.9.1975. If the date 1.5.1975 or 15.9.1975 is to be taken  into account, the respondents will become eligible for  pensionary benefit only if their service was counted from the  date of initial appointment, otherwise, they would not be  completing ten years of qualifying service by 15.9.1975. As  the appellants took the stand that the daily-wage service will  not count in reckoning the qualifying service as per the  Tamilnadu Pension Rules, the respondents filed writ petitions  seeking direction to calculate their qualifying service in the  MSTD from the date of their initial appointment as daily- wage employees instead of counting it from the date of   their absorption on regular basis in Government service. 2.              Writ appeal No. 545 of 1998 which is the subject  matter of S.L.P.(C) No. 21676 of 2001 filed by the  respondents herein was allowed and directions were issued  to calculate the writ petitioners’ qualifying service from the  date of their initial entry into service and to sanction and  release the pensionary benefits accordingly. Writ appeal No.  1411 of 1994 which has given rise to Civil Appeal No. 494 of  2002 filed by the State of Tamilnadu against the order of the  learned single Judge allowing the writ petition was  dismissed. 3.              It becomes practically unnecessary to go into the  question whether the daily-wage service should also be  counted towards qualifying service for the reason that by a

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judgment pronounced today in Civil Appeal Nos. 1444- 1445/1999 etc., we have held, affirming the view of the  High Court that the fixation of the cutoff date as 1.5.1975 or  15.9.1975 is unconstitutional and we directed that the  eligibility to pension should be assessed with reference to  the cutoff date 1.4.1982. If that date is taken into account,  indisputably, the respondents will be having sufficient  qualifying service to earn pension as per the State  Government rules, even if the daily-wage service is  excluded. 4.              The appeals are therefore disposed of in terms of  directions given in our judgment pronounced today in Civil  Appeal Nos. 1444-1445/1999 etc. No costs.