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Darshan Singh & Ors. v. State of Punjab & Ors.

Miscellaneous Application · 2021 INSC 41Decided 22 Jan 2021
Miscellaneous Application No. 2673 of 2019 in Civil Appeal No. 1298 of 2018
Chief Justice S.A. Bobde · Justice L. Nageswara Rao · Justice Vineet Saran

Background

The Punjab Government had proposed a pension scheme in 1991 (in lieu of Contributory Provident Fund), finally implemented in 1999 with a cut-off date of 01.07.1999, denying the benefit to those who retired earlier. Employees who retired before that date challenged this before the High Court, lost, and then succeeded before the Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 1298 of 2018, where the State itself informed the Court that 214 employees who retired between 1995 and 1999 were eligible, and the Court ordered pension to be paid to them from 01.01.2018 onward (without retrospective arrears).

Decision Breakdown

This Miscellaneous Application sought clarification because, even though the applicants' names were on the State's own list of 214 eligible persons, they were still not being paid pension: the State now contending that only those who retired between 11.05.1995 and 30.06.1999 specifically qualified. The Court rejected this narrower reading, holding that once the State itself represented to the Court that 214 named persons were eligible and the earlier judgment was passed and allowed on the basis of that representation, none of those 214 persons could be excluded on a fresh, narrower interpretation. It clarified that all 214 listed persons are entitled to the pension benefit.

Lesson Learnt

Once a government makes a specific factual representation to a court (such as naming particular beneficiaries) and the court's order is based on that representation, the government cannot later retreat from it by applying a stricter condition that excludes people it had already conceded were entitled.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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