Six Haryana Education Workers’ Pre-Regularisation Service Counts Toward OPS, P&H HC Says, Subject To Verification

The petitioners were initially engaged in the Haryana Education Department on part-time/daily-wage basis between October 1997 and March 1998 and were regularised between 2014 and 2023.

Two petitioners had retired; the others were working. They sought counting of their pre-regularisation service as qualifying service for pensionary benefits and consequential eligibility for the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).

The State disputed that the petition contained adequate proof of each petitioner’s relevant dates, but accepted that the prior service was countable under the cited judgments and stated that OPS benefits would be granted if the facts were verified.

Under the Punjab CSR, Volume II, as applicable through the Haryana Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2016, and the principles applied in Kesar Chand v. State of Haryana, Harbans Lal v. State of Punjab, Jeewan Lata v. State of Punjab, Jai Bhagwan v. State of Haryana, Rajesh Kumar v. State of Punjab and Om Parkash v. State of Haryana, continuous part-time/daily-wage/ad hoc service followed by regularisation is liable to be counted as qualifying service for pensionary benefits.

The Court also relied on Punjab School Education Board v. Satnam Singh, 2026 INSC 965, which held, on its facts and under the applicable pension regulations, that pre-regularisation contract/ad hoc/daily-wage service may count as qualifying service and that artificial or administrative breaks may be disregarded.

The Court applied this line of authority to the petitioners’ claim for pension and OPS, subject to verification of their service particulars.

The record showed that the petitioners had been engaged on part-time/daily-wage/ad hoc terms and were subsequently regularised.

The Court treated the question as settled by the cited precedents, including the Supreme Court’s decision in Satnam Singh, and concluded that the respondents could not exclude the petitioners’ continuous pre-regularisation service when calculating qualifying service.

Although the State had raised a concern about proof of the dates, it accepted that the benefit could follow upon verification; the Court therefore made the relief conditional on verification of the petitioners’ initial engagement and regularisation particulars.

The respondents were directed to count each petitioner’s service from initial part-time/daily-wage/ad hoc engagement through regularisation and subsequent regular service as qualifying service for pension and other retiral benefits.

Subject to verification of the relevant dates and particulars, the petitioners were held entitled to OPS; the respondents were directed to re-fix their pensionary/retiral benefits and release consequential benefits within three months of receiving a certified copy of the order.

Any amounts already contributed or paid under the New Pension Scheme are to be adjusted in accordance with law.