IN A significant decision, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has clarified that a person appointed on an adhoc basis is entitled to pension and retirement benefits for their entire service period (including the ad hoc period). A single bench of Justice Deepak Khot issued this ruling while accepting the petition of retired Professor Arun Prakash Bukharia. Professor Bukharia joined the ad hoc appointment as a Physics lecturer in 1977 and his service was regularized in 1987. He retired in 2009.

 

Professor Bukharia filed the petition because the government did not consider his ad hoc service as pensionable. His lawyer argued that the two three-day breaks given during the adhoc period were merely imaginary and artificial, and could not be considered a break in service under the Madhya Pradesh Civil Services Pension Rules. The court rejected the state government's argument that if there were two or more breaks in adhoc service, only the last part would be considered for pension calculation.

 

Justice Khot, while delivering the verdict, stated that such breaks were "artificial and fictitious" and could not be used to deny pensions. The court held that the petitioner's service would be considered continuous from 1977 to 2009, and that his pen sion and other retirement benefits would be calculated on this basis. This decision is considered to have far-reaching implications, providing relief to thousands of adhoc teachers and employees in Madhya Pradesh.