Service rendered in an unaided post cannot count toward qualifying service for pensionary benefits.

The petitioner sought to have her service as a P.G. Assistant at the fifth respondent’s recognised minority school, from 4 July 1994 to 2 January 2002, counted for pay refixation and pensionary benefits.

The relevant higher-secondary classes at that school were conducted on a self-financing basis.

She later joined a permanent vacancy at the sixth respondent school; her appointment there was approved with effect from 3 January 2002.

In an earlier writ petition, the Court directed reconsideration of her request in light of G.O.(1D) No. 125 dated 13 April 2010 and an earlier decision in W.P.(MD) No. 3434 of 2012.

The Department rejected the request on 15 June 2017, prompting this petition.

Whether the petitioner’s service in the self-financed/unaided classes of the fifth respondent school could be counted as qualifying service for pay refixation and pensionary benefits.

Whether the Department’s rejection of the request could stand notwithstanding the earlier direction to reconsider it and the authorities relied on by the petitioner.

The Court applied the principle, drawn from the cited line of decisions and the Division Bench judgment in W.A.(MD) No. 686 of 2022, that service in a self-financed stream or an unaided post cannot be counted as service in an aided post for determining qualifying service for retirement and pensionary benefits.

The Division Bench authorities discussed in that judgment, including Palure Bhaskar Rao v. P. Ramaseshaiah, (2017) 5 SCC 783, distinguish a transfer within service from recruitment by transfer or a fresh appointment; prior service does not automatically carry benefits into a subsequent appointment made through a separate recruitment process.

The Court also relied on the subsequent Division Bench decisions referred to in W.A.(MD) No. 686 of 2022, including S.K. Kannan, W.A.(MD) No. 627 of 2022, Esakkiraj, and Government of Tamil Nadu v. S. Arulmani.

The petitioner’s earlier service was in the fifth respondent school’s self-financed higher-secondary classes, not in a sanctioned aided post.

By contrast, she joined a permanent aided vacancy at the sixth respondent school only with effect from 3 January 2002.

Applying the cited precedents, the Court held that the earlier service could not be treated as qualifying service in an aided post.

The previous direction required reconsideration of the request; it did not entitle the petitioner to have the self-financed service counted contrary to the applicable precedents.

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