Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed authorities to consider granting a pending annual increment to a retired government employee who superannuated on June 30, 2014.
The order was passed by a division bench comprising Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla and Justice Binod Kumar Dwivedi while hearing a petition filed by Subhash Chandra.
The petitioner argued that he completed a full year of service with good conduct before retirement and therefore became entitled to the increment that was due on July 1, 2014. He cited the Supreme Court judgment in Director (Admn) & HR KPTCL vs CP Mundinamani (2023), which held that the right to an increment crystallizes upon completion of the requisite service period, even if the date of accrual falls immediately after retirement.
The court also took note of the Madhya Pradesh Government’s Circular dated March 15, 2024, which mandates that employees retiring on June 30 or December 31 are eligible for the succeeding day’s increment.
During the hearing, the state government acknowledged that the circular was under implementation but submitted that delayed litigation should not entitle employees to arrears and interest for earlier periods.
The bench referred to a recent Supreme Court ruling in Union of India vs M Siddaraj (decided on February 20, 2025), which clarified that an enhanced pension by adding one increment would be payable only from May 1, 2023 for similarly placed employees, unless they had earlier obtained a final judicial order.
Following this precedent, the HC directed the petitioner to submit a detailed representation within 30 days, which must then be considered by the competent authority in line with clause (a) of the Supreme Court’s directions - meaning payment of pension with the added increment from May 1, 2023 onwards, without retrospective arrears before that date.
With these directions, the writ petition was disposed of.
