Pre-regularisation part-time Village Assistant service cannot be counted towards pensionary benefits.

The petitioner’s deceased husband, S. Bagavathi Perumal, was appointed as a Grama Paniyalar on 3 December 1985 and served until his retirement on 31 March 2009.

His service was regularised as full-time service from 1 June 1995, and his pension was calculated from that date.

The petitioner sought to include his earlier service, contending that his initial appointment was temporary, not part-time.

After the District Collector rejected her representation on 16 December 2019, she sought to quash that decision and obtain pensionary benefits calculated from 4 December 1985.

Whether the deceased employee’s service before 1 June 1995 could be counted towards qualifying service for pensionary benefits.

Whether the impugned order rejecting the petitioner’s request for such recalculation warranted interference.

Rule 16(2) of the Tamil Nadu Village Servants Service Rules, 1980, treats the relevant posts as non-pensionable; Rule 4(a) of the Tamil Nadu Village Assistants Pension Rules, 1995, reckons temporary, officiating and permanent full-time service as qualifying service.

Rules 11(2) and 11(3) of the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules, 1978, permit specified prior service to count only subject to their conditions, including whole-time employment and, under Rule 11(3), service on a time scale followed by absorption without a break; Rule 11(4) likewise requires whole-time employment for the service it covers.

The Full Bench in A. Elangovan v. State of Tamil Nadu, 2026 (3) CTC 1, held that Village Assistants/Talayaris employed before 1 June 1995 in part-time posts not borne on a service or cadre are not entitled to count 50% of that pre-regularisation service for pension.

Although the appointment order did not establish whether the initial appointment was part-time or temporary, the service book described it as temporary.

The Court nevertheless held that the appointment was governed by the 1980 Rules and that the employee’s pre-1 June 1995 service was in a part-time post; full-time service with a special time scale began only from that date.

Applying the Full Bench ruling in A. Elangovan, the Court concluded that the earlier service could not be counted for pension.

The petitioner’s reliance on K. Raman Nair did not alter the result, as the Full Bench had distinguished that decision and held it inapplicable to Village Assistants appointed part-time before 1 June 1995.

The writ petition was dismissed, with no order as to costs.