FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN through General Manager/ Operations Pakistan Railways, Headquarters Office, Lahore vs S

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FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN through General Manager/ Operations Pakistan Railways, Headquarters Office, Lahore VS SHAH MOHAMMAD Pension, stoppage of---Conviction in a criminal case---Right to hold or withdraw pension---Scope---Respondent was employed in Railways as Permanent Way Inspector (BPS-16) when an accident took place resulting in derailment of several Coaches, loss of eight lives and massive loss to Railways property---Criminal case (FIR) for the occurrence was lodged, and in the meanwhile the Railways department imposed penalty of reversion on the respondent and reverted him from BPS-16 to BPS-11 and also transferred him to another Division---After retirement respondent started getting pension from the department for about an year, when suddenly the payment of pension was stopped for the reason that he had been convicted by the criminal Court in the accident case---Legality--- Rule 2307 of General Conditions Governing Pension (C.S.R. 351) provided that in order to get the pension, the pensioner had to maintain future good conduct as an implied condition for grant of pension---Two instances had been given in the said rule, which gave power to the Government to withhold or withdraw a pension or any part of it i.e. where the pensioner was convicted of a serious crime or was guilty of a grave misconduct---For being entitled to pension, a civil servant had to have good conduct throughout his life, which meant that he had to maintain good conduct before entering service, during the period of service and even after retiring from service---Rule 2307 (C.S.R-351) did not apply only to good conduct of a pensioner after his retirement and to the crime committed by a pensioner after his retirement---Rule 2307 (C.S.R-351) was an exception to the general rule which entitled the civil servant to pension as of right after having rendered satisfactory qualifying service---Term "good conduct" was not defined in the Civil Service Rules, thus, it seems to have been left to the judgment of the authority, which was entitled to take a decision in the matter---In the present case the respondent was convicted under various penal provisions and sentenced to 5 years rigorous imprisonment, which fell within the ambit of the term "serious crime" as provided R. 2307 (C.S.R-351)---Respondent's pension was rightly stopped by the Railways department---Appeal was allowed.

FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN through General Manager/ Operations Pakistan Railways, Headquarters Office, Lahore vs SHAH MOHAMMAD Pension, stoppage of — 2021 SCMR 1249 SUPREME-COURT

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