Deemed conversion from CPF to GPF-cum-Pension applies absent conscious, timely exercise of option to remain under CPF.

The applicant, a retired Librarian (Group-C) from Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), retired on 30.04.2014.

She challenged the order dated 23.04.2018, which rejected her request to convert from the Contributory Provident Fund (CPF) scheme to the General Provident Fund (GPF)-cum-Pension scheme.

The respondents contended that according to a Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) letter dated 07.04.2015, employees in service as of 01.01.1986 who opted for CPF had made a final, conscious decision.

The applicant asserted she was never actually given the option to choose between the two schemes.

1. Whether the applicant, a KVS employee in service as of 01.01.1986, is entitled to convert from the CPF scheme to the GPF-cum-Pension scheme despite the initial cut-off dates.

Statutory precedent set by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in University of Delhi v. Smt. Shashi Kiran and others (2022) 15 SCC 325, which established that employees who did not exercise a positive option to remain in CPF are deemed to have "come over" to the GPF scheme by virtue of deeming provisions in a 1987 notification.

Doctrine derived from the Madhya Pradesh High Court decision in Misc. Petition No. 2864 of 2023, which held that options exercised after the expiration of the original cut-off date are meaningless and cannot bar an employee from GPF benefits.

The Tribunal found that the issue is no longer res integra (unsettled) following the University of Delhi judgment.

The court examined the categorization of employees and noted that those who joined before 01.01.1986 were generally deemed to have converted to GPF unless a conscious option to remain in CPF was exercised before the cut-off date.

Following the High Court's reasoning, the Tribunal observed that KVS failed to provide evidence that granting this relief would create an unmanageable financial burden or open "floodgates" for similar claims.

Since the applicant’s case mirrored the "Shashi Kiran batch" where parity and equality principles were applied, the refusal by respondents based on a 2015 administrative policy was found unsustainable.

The Tribunal allowed the Original Application and quashed the impugned order dated 23.04.2018; the respondents were directed to release pensionary benefits effective from her retirement date (30.04.2014) with arrears at 6% p.a., contingent upon the applicant surrendering the CPF amounts previously received along with 8% simple interest p.a., as per the Supreme Court’s directions in the University of Delhi case.