SC declares pension a legal right

The Supreme Court has ruled that pension is neither a concession nor charity but a constitutional and legal right of a government employee, which cannot be denied merely on the grounds of delayed application or resignation.

According to the court-approved detailed judgment issued for reporting, a three-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb set aside Federal Service Tribunal's decision dated July 3, 2024 in the case of Muhammad Usman vs Federation of Pakistan.

The court noted that Muhammad Usman had completed more than 20 years of service as a senior auditor (BS-11) in the office of the Military Accountant General, Rawalpindi — fulfilling the statutory requirement for pension.

It further observed that after the 2001 amendment to the Civil Servants Act, the qualifying service for pension was reduced from 25 to 20 years, a condition already met by the petitioner.

The Supreme Court rejected the argument that the petitioner was not entitled to pension due to a 13-year delay in submitting his application.

The judgment stated that the right to pension accrues immediately upon retirement or acceptance of resignation and cannot be extinguished merely due to delay. It added that neither the doctrine of laches nor the law of limitation applies to pension claims.

The bench also criticised the misinterpretation of CSR Regulation 418, clarifying that the regulation relates to the counting of service and not to complete forfeiture of pension.

It held that resignation, by itself, does not deprive an employee of pension — especially when the requisite length of service has already been completed.

Declaring the decisions of the tribunal and the department to be based on a misunderstanding of the law, the SC converted the petition into an appeal and allowed it, directing authorities to grant Usman full pensionary benefits in accordance with the law.

Reiterating earlier precedents, the court once again emphasised that pension is a vested and protected right that cannot be taken away on administrative or technical grounds.

Last week, the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) upheld a series of Lahore High Court (LHC) judgments directing the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) to grant a monthly old-age pension to workers who had completed more than 14 and a half years of insurable employment.