In Brief
Tara Chand, a Central Bank of India employee aged over 40 with 11 years of service, applied for voluntary retirement under the Bank's 2001 Voluntary Retirement Scheme. While eligible to apply (satisfying the age requirement), the Bank denied him pro-rata pension, citing insufficient service. The High Court allowed his writ petition, but the Supreme Court reversed it. The Court held that eligibility to apply for voluntary retirement does not automatically grant pension entitlement; pension requires meeting separate qualifying service standards under the Pension Regulations—specifically 15 years of service. Since the respondent had only 11 years of service, he was ineligible for pension despite being eligible for voluntary retirement itself.
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