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2019 (2) TMI 2105 - SUPREME COURT (LB)Admissibility of pension - Voluntary Retirement Scheme availed - disentitled to pension on account of exclusion of period when they remained absent without authorisation for which period they were held not entitled to salary - HELD THAT:- The period of leave for which salary is payable would be taken into account for determining the pensionable service, while the period for which leave salary is not payable would be excluded. The Rule is crystal clear and does not brook any two interpretations. It is a well settled principle of interpretation that when the words of a statute are clear and unambiguous, there cannot be a recourse to any principle of interpretation other than the Rule of literal construction. The endeavour to refer to Rules 27 & 28 of the Pension Rules is of no avail, as those are dealing with the effect of interruption in service which may result in forfeiture of past service. In the present case, there has been no forfeiture of past service. In the given facts of the present case, an important aspect is noted, i.e., the Respondents were not governed by these Rules, but by the Employees Contributory Provident Fund Scheme. The Pension Scheme was sought to be introduced only couple of months before the VRS, and that too was not implemented till 1995. Not only that, it was not implemented through the LIC but ultimately by the Appellant-Corporation itself, much later in 1995. Thus, the occasion for making any entries for this leave period in the service record, in terms of the Rules did not even arise at the stage when the VRS was applied. There are no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that to avail of the benefit of Pension Rules, an employee must qualify in terms of the Rules. In the present case, the Respondents unfortunately do not do so, as the period which is sought to be excluded from their qualifying service is one where they have admittedly not been paid leave salary. The qualifying period for the VRS would have to be governed by that Scheme and cannot ipso facto be imported into the entitlement of pension, contrary to the plain wordings of the Pension Rules. The impugned order is set aside - appeal allowed.
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