The court ordered the bank to extend the pension scheme to the petitioners
Hyderabad High Court
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court has held that employees of nationalised banks who resigned prior to introduction of pension scheme were not entitled to claim benefits of the scheme. A Division Bench comprising Justice R. Subhash Reddy and Justice A. Rajasheker Reddy was allowing a review petition by the Andhra Bank, represented by its CMD, seeking review of an order passed by the erstwhile AP High Court in 1998, in which the bank was ordered to pay pension benefits to employees who had resigned from service between 1991 and 1993.
The case pertained to one M. Venkateswara Rao and scores of others who resigned from between 1991 and 1993 citing various reasons. Later, they approached the bank after the introduction of a pension scheme for employees of nationalised banks in 1995, seeking benefits under the scheme.
When the bank rejected their pleas, they moved the High Court. The court ordered the bank to extend the pension scheme to the petitioners, relying on a judgement in the case of D. Malleswara Rao vs Andhra Bank, and another.
The bank moved an appeal before the High Court and it was dismissed in 2013 as the facts and circumstances were similar. The bank then moved a SLP before the Supreme Court contending that the facts and circumstances in writ appeals differed.
When the Apex Court granted liberty for seeking review of the earlier orders, the bank moved the review petition and the petitioner employees filed a contempt case against the bank for not implementing the order.
Counsel for Andhra Bank K. Lakshmi Narasimha submitted that the cases were altogether different. In one case, the employee had applied for voluntary retirement and the bank treated his application as resignation and accordingly allowed him to retire. It also extended him the pension benefits. Considering the facts, the Bench allowed the review petition and dismissed the contempt case and appeals.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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