ups_00443 — Pension can be granted to a Government servant only if he completes 10 years of service. In this case, the petitioner, a Group 'D' employee had completed only 9 years and 9 months of service which can be rounded off to 10 years as per CCS (Pension) Rules, 49 (3). But the Applicant, having joined the strike for 14 days in his service having been treated as dies non, his service for grant of pensionary benefits falls short of 9 years and 9 months by 14 days. The present case being a rare one, the

Pension can be granted to a Government servant only if he completes 10 years of service. In this case, the petitioner, a Group 'D' employee had completed only 9 years and 9 months of service which can be rounded off to 10 years as per CCS (Pension) Rules, 49 (3). But the Applicant, having joined the strike for 14 days in his service having been treated as dies non, his service for grant of pensionary benefits falls short of 9 years and 9 months by 14 days. The present case being a rare one, the Tribunal directed the Respondents to treat the dies non period as leave due and thus grant him pension for his 10 years of service as a Group 'D' employee — This chunk discusses a case where an employee, having served for 9 years and 9 months as a Group 'D' employee, was denied pension due to joining a postal strike for 14 days, which was treated as "die... — Facts: The Applicant joined the Postal Department as EDA on 1-1-1969 and subsequently started working as EDBPM from 20-5-1985. He was regularized as a Group 'D' employee with effect from 1-1-1997 and hence for that service only in Group 'D' he is eligible for pension if he had put in 10 years of regular Group 'D' service. But he had put in 9 years and 9 months of service and hence by relaxing three months, he is eligible for pension for 10 years. Service of 9 years and 9 months is to be rounded off to 10 years as per CCS (Pension ) Rules, 49 (3) for grant of pension which was further clarified in DTE No. 4-1/2005-Pen., dated 11-11-2005. But he joined the postal strike as stated in the impugned order, dated 5-11-2007. Hence he is short of 14 days which was treated as dies non from his service of 9 years and 9 months. The period of 14 days was also not treated as leave due by Respondents in view of DoP&T's OM, dated 1-5-1991. Hence, he filed this OA for grant of pension for 10 years condoning the strike period of 14 days by treating it as leave due. The citations quoted by both sides were dismissed by the Tribunal in view of the specific Rule 49 [2

(b) ] which allows the service period of 9 years and 9 months to be rounded off as 10 years for the purpose of granting pensionary benefits. The Tribunal held that although strike by postal employees is to be dealt with strictly to dissuade from participating in strike, the present case is to be treated as a rare one. Even though number of employees took part in the strike, there may not be more than 10 cases where the eligibility of pension of employees is so critically dependent on those 14 days. In the present case, the Applicant's service as EDA from 1969 to 1977 is not to be treated as a service within the meaning of pension entitlement. During the course of hearing, the Applicant was permitted to file additional documents i.e., a circular, dated 17-12-1992 of the Postal Department. This circular refers to the question of condonation of unauthorized absence resulting in break of service under FR 17-A for the purpose of pension which is reproduced in the judgment. As per this circular, the break in service may be condoned by appointing authority suo motu for the purpose of pension as matter of course without waiting for representation from the affected official. Only in grave circumstances, the appointing authority may decide at its discretion not to condone the break in service for the purpose of pension. The strike was considered grave and hence condoning the break in service was not considered for the petitioner. In that circumstances, it was held: