For more than three decades, Parmeshwar Sah reported to work as a chowkidar in Jharkhand’s building construction department. He received annual increments, worked against a sanctioned post, and retired in 2021 after over 30 years of service.
Yet, when he hung up his uniform, he was denied pension because he had never been formally regularised.
This week, the Jharkhand High Court changed that.
In a significant judgment, Justice Deepak Roshan directed the state government to count Sah’s entire service for pension, gratuity, leave encashment, and other retirement benefits, holding that failure to regularise an employee cannot become a ground to deny post-retiral entitlements.
The court ordered the government to complete the process within eight weeks.
A human story behind a legal battle
Sah’s story mirrors the lives of thousands of work-charge and temporary government employees across Jharkhand. Appointed in 1986, he served continuously until retirement, even facing periods when his salary was delayed.
Despite spending the prime of his life in government service, he retired without pension because his employment remained in the work-charge establishment.
For workers like Sah, pension is not merely a financial benefit. It is the difference between dignity and uncertainty in old age. Court rejects technicality over fairness
The High Court relied on earlier Full Bench and Supreme Court decisions to hold that work-charge employees enjoy the status of temporary government servants and become eligible for pension after completing 15 years of service.
Importantly, the court ruled that an employee cannot be penalised because the government failed to regularise his services on time. It observed that the entire 30 years of Sah’s service must be counted for pensionary benefits despite the absence of formal regularisation.
The judgment could have consequences far beyond one employee. Thousands of retired and serving work-charge employees in Jharkhand who have spent decades in government service but remain technically unregularised may now find stronger legal support to seek pensionary benefits.
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