LHC says five years of contractual service before regularisation qualifies for pension

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ruled that continuous contractual service rendered by a government employee before regularisation can be counted towards the qualifying service required for pension and other retirement benefits.

A two-member LHC bench headed by Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabbir dismissed an appeal filed by the Punjab government and upheld an earlier single bench decision directing authorities to provide pension and other benefits to Kaneeza Fatima, the widow of a deceased health department employee.

According to the court record, Kaneeza’s husband was appointed as a naib qasid on a contractual basis in the health department in 2005. He was regularised in 2010 and died in 2016.

The Punjab government had argued that only regular service could be counted towards the 10-year qualifying period required for pension and that the employee’s contractual service could not be included.

The court rejected that stance, noting that the deceased employee had served continuously for five years on a contractual basis before being regularised.

The bench held that his service before regularisation could not be disregarded when determining his entitlement to pension and other benefits, particularly as he had subsequently been regularised.

The court said that the employee could not be deprived of his pension rights merely because part of his continuous service had been rendered on a contractual basis.

The Punjab government had also challenged the earlier single-bench ruling, arguing that it had been issued while the judge was sitting in chambers and was therefore unlawful.

The two-member bench rejected the objection, holding that there was nothing unlawful in the single-bench decision.

The court consequently dismissed the Punjab government’s appeal and maintained the order directing the authorities to provide pension and other benefits to Kaneeza Fatima.