ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday reaffirmed that pension is a vested constitutional right, not a bounty or a privilege granted at the discretion of the employer.
Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, in a six-page judgment, emphasized that pension benefits are earned through long, continuous, faithful, and unblemished service, upholding the right of a former civil servant to receive his pension despite applying 13 years after his resignation.
Justice Siddiqui was part of a three-judge bench headed by Justice Naeem Akhter Afghan, with Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb also on the panel.
The case involved Muhammad Usman, a former senior auditor (BS-11) in the Military Accountant General’s office, Rawalpindi, who had challenged the July 3, 2024, rejection of his pension claim by the Federal Service Tribunal (FST).
Usman had tendered his resignation from public service in September 2007. While he had completed the required 20 years of service under the amended Civil Servants Act, 1973 (reduced from 25 years by Ordinance No XXXIV of 2001), his pension claim was initially rejected for being belated. His department had also denied his earlier request for condonation of the shortfall period in 2020.
During the hearing, Additional Attorney General Rashideen Nawaz Qasoori did not dispute that Usman had completed the requisite service period but opposed the claim on two grounds:
The petition was filed 13 years late.
Usman had resigned voluntarily, and Regulation 418 of the Civil Service Regulations (CSR) allegedly barred pension entitlement in such cases.
The Supreme Court, however, rejected this interpretation, noting that CSR 418 cannot independently deprive a civil servant of pension benefits once the requisite service period is completed. The bench observed that neither the FST nor the departmental authorities had properly understood the regulation, and a delayed application alone does not justify denial of pension.
Concluding the judgment, the SC set aside the FST order and converted Usman’s petition into an appeal, affirming that he was entitled to pension benefits in accordance with law.
