Bhubaneswar: Setting aside the premature retirement of a senior OAS officer, the Orissa High Court has directed the state to treat him as having continued in service until his normal retirement date and extend the consequential retirement benefits.
Quashing the premature retirement order, the Court held that the government had failed to follow mandatory service code guidelines while retiring him just four months before his scheduled superannuation.
Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy directed the government to treat the officer as having continued in service until his normal date of superannuation January 31, 2021, and regularise the intervening period on a notional basis with consequential retirement benefits.
The petitioner, who entered the OAS-II cadre in February 1987 and rose to the OAS Special Secretary Grade in 2017, was serving as Director, AYUSH, when he was arrested July 9, 2020, in a case registered by the Bhubaneswar Mahila Police Station.
He was released on bail four days later and placed under suspension with effect from the date of his arrest.
Following a report of an internal committee dated August 7, 2020, the government prematurely retired him under Rule 71(a) August 13, 2020-less than six months before his scheduled retirement.
The petitioner, represented by SK Das, challenged the order, arguing that the government had failed to follow the General Administration and Public Grievance department guidelines issued September 24, 2019.
He contended that he had already attained 59 years when his case was referred to the committee and that the guidelines barred such premature retirement when only four months remained before superannuation.
The HC accepted the contention, observing that the officer’s case could not have been recommended for premature retirement in view of the 2019 guidelines.
The court also held that he could not have been prematurely retired when his date of superannuation was only about four months away.
The court accordingly quashed the August 13, 2020 order and directed the government to regularise the period from August 13, 2020, to January 30, 2021, on a notional basis and extend the retirement benefits due to him within four months of receiving the order.
