TMI Blog2004 (3) TMI 766X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of banks on one hand and All India Bank Employees' Association representing the workmen. Pursuant to the said settlement, the IBA agreed to introduce pension scheme in banks in lieu of employees' contribution to the provident fund. As a consequence of the said settlement, UCO Bank (Employees') Pension Regulations, 1995 (hereinafter referred to as the said regulations ) were framed by the bank under section 19(2)(f) of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970 after consultation with the Reserve Bank of India. The said regulations were published with the prior sanction of the Central Government. The respondent herein opted for the pension scheme. However, since he had resigned in 1988, the appellant-bank declined to accept his option for admitting him as a member/beneficiary of the fund. Under such circumstances, he filed a suit in civil court for a declaration that he was entitled to pension as provided for under the regulations. He also prayed for mandatory injunction directing the appellant to make payment of arrears along with interest. The suit was decreed and the first appeal filed against the trial court judgment as also the seco ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e the basic pay and all allowances counted for the purposes of contribution to the provident fund and for payment of dearness allowance, in relation to an employee who has either retired or died on or after 1.1.1986 but before 1.11.1993. Regulation 3 (1) inter alia states that the said regulations shall apply to employees who were in service of the bank on or after 1.1.1986 but who retired prior to 1.11.1993 and who exercised option to join the pension scheme within 120 days from the notified date i.e. 29.9.1995. Suffice it to state that the entire regulation 3 refers to retirees only and not to those who have resigned or dismissed/removed form the bank. Regulation 5 deals with the constitution of a pension fund. It states that the bank shall constitute a Fund under an irrevocable trust within the specified period to provide for payment of pension/family pension in accordance with regulations. It further provides that the bank shall be a contributor to the said fund to ensure that the trustees make due payments to the beneficiaries under these regulations. A bare reading of regulation 5 indicates that the fund will be managed by the trustees and the beneficiaries are the employees ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ned in subordination (2), the appointing authority may, by order, commute retrospectively the periods of absence without leave as extraordinary leave. (4) (a) In the absence of a specific indication to the contrary in the service record, an interruption, between two spells of service rendered by a bank employee shall be treated as automatically condoned and the pre- interruption service treated as qualifying service; (b) Nothing in clause (a) shall apply to interruption caused by resignation, dismissal or removal from service or for participation in a strike; Provided that before making an entry in the service record of the Bank employee regarding forfeiture of the past service because of his participation in strike, an opportunity of representation may be given to such bank employees. Chapter V refers to Classes of pension and it covers superannuation pension; pension on voluntary retirement; invalid pension compassionate allowance, pre-mature retirement pension and compulsory retirement pension. Regulation 34 which also falls within chapter V deals with payment of pension/ family pension in respect of employees who retired or died between 1.1.1986 to 31.10.1993. It s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... efore, the regulation 3 does not cover employees who have resigned. Similarly, in the case of a dismissed employee, there may be forfeiture of his retrial benefits and consequently the framers of the scheme have kept out the retirees as well as dismissed employees vide regulation 22. Further, the pension payable to the beneficiaries under the scheme would depend on income accruing on investments and unless there is adequate corpus, the scheme may not be workable and, therefore, clause 22 prescribes a disqualification to dismissed employees and employees who have resigned. Lastly, as stated above, the scheme contemplated pension as the second retiral benefit in lieu of employers' contribution to contributory provident fund. Therefore, the said scheme was not a continuation of the earlier scheme of provident fund. As a new scheme, it was entitled to keep out dismissed employees and employees who have resigned. In the light of our above analysis of the scheme, we now proceed to deal with the arguments advanced by both the sides. It was inter alia urged on behalf of the appellant bank that under regulation 22, category of employees who have resigned from the service and who have ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n these appeals. The words resignation and retirement carry different meanings in common parlance. An employee can resign at any point of time, even on the second day of his appointment but in the case of retirement he retires only after attaining the age of superannuation or in the case of voluntary retirement on completion of qualifying service. The effect of resignation and retirement to the extent that there is severance of employment but in service jurisprudence both the expressions are understood differently. Under the Regulations, the expressions resignation and retirement have been employed for different purpose and carry different meanings. The pension scheme herein is based on actuarial calculation; it is a self-financing scheme, which does not depend upon budgetary support and consequently it constitutes a complete code by itself. The scheme essentially covers retirees as the credit balance to their provident fund account is larger as compared to employees who resigned from service. Moreover, resignation brings about complete cessation of master and servant relationship whereas voluntary retirement maintains the relationship for the purposes of grant of retiral b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
