Summary
The Court held that the University arbitrarily denied a retired law professor credit for prior Bar practice when it had granted that benefit to a similarly situated professor. Pension ordinarily follows the rules in force at retirement, but those rules cannot be selectively applied without a valid distinction. Both professors had joined before the restrictive proviso and retired after it. The University was directed to recompute the pension, including qualifying Bar practice, and pay the shortfall from retirement with five per cent interest.
Issues
- Whether the University could selectively apply the restrictive pension proviso to deny Bar-practice credit to one of two similarly situated professors.
- Whether the rule applicable at retirement justified that differential treatment.
Provisions considered
- Rule 25(a) and proviso, Kerala Service Rules, Part IIIThe rule permits qualifying Bar-practice credit subject to its conditions; selective application of its restrictive proviso to the appellant was held arbitrary. (¶¶ 25, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
Held
- Both the appellant and the comparator professor joined as law teachers after practice at the Bar before the proviso took effect, and retired after it. The University identified no relevant distinction explaining why the comparator received the credit while the appellant did not. (¶¶ 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
- The Court accepted that pension is determined under the rules existing at retirement. That principle did not authorise different application to similarly situated employees. Selective invocation of the proviso, without reasonable classification, was arbitrary and illegal. (¶¶ 32, 33, 34)
- The appellant was entitled to pension calculated by including qualifying prior Bar practice with University service. The University had to calculate the shortfall from his retirement on 30 April 2007 and pay it with five per cent annual interest until payment within two months after receipt of the judgment. (¶¶ 34, 35, 36, 37)
Result
Appeal allowed. The High Court judgments were set aside and pension recomputation and payment of the shortfall with 5% annual interest directed within two months after receipt; parties to bear their own costs.