More Stories

Informist, Tuesday, Jul 30, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court has upheld the government's deletion of clauses 12A and 13 of the Employees Pension Scheme, 1995, and dismissed a challenge by the Federation of Tata Communications Employees Union. 

 

"We find that the said clauses would have come into force at the time of superannuation of an employee and therefore, we fail to appreciate as to how an employee who is yet to superannuate can claim that these clauses must continue as a part of the pension scheme," said the court. It is common knowledge, the court said, that it is open for a State operating a pension fund to decide the manner in which the fund has to be operated.

 

The court said it was therefore open to the State to review the clauses of the pension fund from time to time. As long as these changes do not affect the vested right of an employee, no challenge can be laid thereto, it added. "In the present case, employees who are still in service cannot claim that they have any vested right to seek commutation of pension or return of capital with reduced pension which was being earlier offered under the scheme," the court said.

 

The petitioner union said unilateral deletion of the clauses, which gave employees the right to opt for commutation of pension and return of capital along with reduced pension, had caused grave prejudice to its members as many were still in service and desirous of availing the benefits at the time of superannuation.

 

The union asked that the government's notification in 2008 to direct deletion of clause 12A and 13 of the Employees Pension Scheme, 1995, be quashed. The government argued that merely because the pension scheme as initially promulgated provided for commutation of pension and return of capital did not give employees a vested right to claim that those provisions could never be deleted. Introduction and deletion of clauses were policy decisions that were taken on the basis of the financial health of the pension fund and market conditions, it said.

 

"We may note that it is not even the petitioners' case that the rights of the employees who had already availed of the options available under clauses 12 & 13 are being in any manner curtailed. We, therefore, do not find any infirmity in the decision of the respondents to delete clauses 12-A & 13 of the pension scheme," said the court in its order.

 

Today, shares of Tata Communications Ltd ended 1.7% higher at 1,907.50 rupees on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2024. All rights reserved.