In Brief
The appellant, a school system employee, voluntarily retired in 1988 and was reappointed in 1994 with a gap of over six years. He claimed pension benefits by including the interruption period in his qualifying service. The Board had resolved to condone the interruption, but this required Government approval. The Finance Department refused to grant the necessary relaxation from Rule 4.23 of Punjab Civil Services Rules (PCSR), which permits condonation of interruptions only up to one year. The Supreme Court upheld the pension denial, holding that the statutory rule did not permit condonation of the six-year-plus interruption, and the Government's refusal of relaxation was binding. The appellant's subsequent service fell short of the required 10 years for pension eligibility.
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