Staff who retired on completion of year entitled to increment: HC to Haryana government

The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has held that one annual increment would be earned to an employee on the last day of his service for the services rendered by him in the preceding year from the date of retirement with good behaviour and efficiency.

Reading down Rule 10 of the Haryana Civil Service (revised pay) Rules, 2008, justice Pankaj Jain of the high court in his July 8 order said the uniform date of annual increment mentioned in Rule 10 would mean completion of the year as of July 1 and January 1 of a year.

Hearing a bunch of petitions, the bench was to decide whether or not an employee who retired on completion of a year of service but before provisioning of increment would be entitled to an annual increment.

Directing the Haryana government to revise their retiral benefits and pensions accordingly, the HC said the petitioners would be entitled to one increment.

“Petitioners 1 and 2 have retired on June 30 of the year concerned while petitioners 3, 4 and 5 have retired on March 31. An annual increment is to be granted to an employee on account of his past service of 12 months. The Rule also provides that if a person has rendered more than six months, he would be deemed to have completed 12 months of service for a grant of increment. Since the petitioners, who retired on March 31 of the year concerned have completed nine months of service in a year they were entitled to receive the benefit of increment for one year. Having reached the aforesaid finding, we find that the case of the persons who have retired on March 31 of the year would also be entitled to the benefit in terms of the Supreme Court judgment in director (administration and HR) KPTCL and others,’’ the HC ordered.