In Brief
A BSNL employee retired on superannuation but was granted provisional pension due to a pending corruption case. He later sought commuted value of pension (CVP) with interest from his retirement date. The Supreme Court held that while pension is a fundamental right, CVP becomes payable only upon a valid application under the statutory rules. Since the employee neither applied under the pre-retirement procedure nor challenged the provisional pension order, he could not claim CVP from retirement. Interest on CVP can be claimed only from the application date if processing is unreasonably delayed, not from retirement. The Court allowed the appeal and set aside orders awarding interest on CVP, though interest on gratuity remained unaffected.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.