Part-time service cannot be counted for pension calculations under the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules.

The State of Tamil Nadu filed an intra-court appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against a Writ Court order dated 18.01.2024 in W.P. No. 6490 of 2023

The Writ Court had originally granted the respondent, a former employee, the benefit of counting 50% of his service rendered as a Part-Time Panchayat Clerk for pensionary purposes

The State challenged this on the grounds that such part-time service does not qualify for pension weightage under the applicable service rules

Whether 50% of the service rendered in a part-time capacity (as a Part-Time Panchayat Clerk) can be counted for the purpose of calculating pensionary benefits under the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules, 1978

Rule 11 of the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules, 1978, which provides for counting 50% of temporary service toward regular pension only if the employee was employed in a "whole-time job" and not a "part-time job"

Article 14 of the Constitution cannot be invoked to perpetuate an illegality or demand parity with erroneous prior orders, as established in the Full Bench judgment of P.L.S. Palaniappan and the Division Bench judgment in W.A. No. 1569 of 2026 etc. batch

The Court reasoned that pension is a right operating strictly within the framework of the 1978 Rules

The Court noted that Rule 11 is a welfare provision intended for temporary whole-time employees and cannot be used as a "ladder" to extend benefits to part-time staff

The Court observed that several previous Single Judge and Division Bench orders granting such relief were "running counter to the Pension Rules" and had merely followed earlier erroneous precedents, creating a "spinning wheel of precedent" that diluted the law

Applying the principle from the Full Bench, the Court held that even if the State had implemented similar erroneous orders in the past, it was not precluded from challenging the same error in the present case

The Writ Appeal was allowed, and the order of the Writ Court dated 18.01.2024 in W.P. No. 6490 of 2023 was set aside