ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ruled that pension is neither a concession nor charity but a constitutional and legal right of a government employee, which cannot be denied merely on the grounds of delayed application or resignation.
According to the court-approved detailed judgment, a three-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb set aside the Federal Service Tribunal’s decision dated July 3, 2024, in the case of Muhammad Usman vs Federation of Pakistan.
The Supreme Court noted that Muhammad Usman had completed more than 20 years of service as a Senior Auditor (BS-11) in the office of the Military Accountant General, Rawalpindi, thereby fulfilling the statutory requirement for pension. It further observed that after the 2001 amendment to the Civil Servants Act, the qualifying service for pension was reduced from 25 to 20 years, a condition already met by the petitioner.
The Court rejected the argument that the petitioner was not entitled to pension due to a 13-year delay in submitting his application. The judgment stated that the right to pension accrues immediately upon retirement or acceptance of resignation and cannot be extinguished merely due to delay. It added that neither the doctrine of laches nor the law of limitation applies to pension claims.
The bench also criticised the misinterpretation of CSR Regulation 418, clarifying that the regulation relates to the counting of service and not to the complete forfeiture of pension. It held that resignation, by itself, does not deprive an employee of pension, especially when the requisite length of service has already been completed.
Declaring the tribunal’s and the department’s decisions to be based on a misunderstanding of the law, the Supreme Court converted the petition into an appeal and allowed it, directing the authorities to grant Muhammad Usman full pensionary benefits in accordance with the law.
Reiterating earlier precedents, the Court emphasised that a pension is a vested and protected right that cannot be taken away on administrative or technical grounds.
