Madhya Pradesh High Court Rejects Appeal On Counting Furlough For Pension Benefits

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court has dismissed an appeal by a former revenue inspector who sought to include nearly five years of furlough leave in his qualifying service for retirement benefits.

A division bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Pavan Kumar Dwivedi upheld the single judge’s order dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellant, Dhawal who had claimed entitlement to full retiral dues including pension, gratuity and leave encashment with interest.

According to the court, the appellant had initially joined as revenue inspector in 1990 and worked until 2011. He had availed of the state government's ‘Furlough Scheme’ from October 2006 to June 2011, under which employees could take leave for up to five years, receive 50% of their salary and pursue other employment.

The appellant contended that because his furlough was for less than five years, this period should count toward his qualifying service for pension under the Civil Services Pension Rules, 1976 and Civil Services Leave Rules, 1977.

However, the court held that Clause 2.13 of the Furlough Scheme explicitly states that the furlough period would not be counted for pension purposes. The judges observed that an employee cannot selectively claim benefits from the scheme while ignoring its limiting conditions.

‘The Furlough scheme itself stipulates that the period spent on furlough shall not be counted towards eligible service for computation of pension,’ the bench noted.

Rejecting the argument that the scheme conflicted with general pension or leave rules, the court concluded that no inconsistency existed since those rules did not contain any such furlough provision. Finding no merit in the appeal, the bench dismissed it, affirming that the furlough period could not be included when calculating the appellant’s retirement benefits.