In Brief
Employees of LIC, United India Insurance, and Andhra Bank who had resigned before pension schemes came into force sought retrospective pension benefits after the schemes were introduced with retroactive effect. The Supreme Court held that resignation and voluntary retirement are legally distinct concepts. Pension regulations expressly disqualify resigned employees and use 'retirement' to mean statutory retirement or voluntary retirement under the scheme itself. Since employees resigned when no pension scheme existed, and the retrospective schemes excluded resigned employees, they cannot claim the benefits. The principle is that such schemes are self-contained codes and cannot be expanded by implication. One appeal was allowed on special facts regarding a claim for gratuity; the others were dismissed.
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