Nov 26, 2018 Madurai: The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court dismissed a petition seeking to regularise a 13-year period of absence from work owing to treatment for schizophrenia as special disability leave and sanction all terminal benefits and family pension considering his overall experience.
The court however suggested that the government can take steps to amend the pension rules in order to look into cases wherein employees have been disqualified on account of mental illness. It said that the government can consider the period of service rendered prior to dismissal and after reinstatement for granting pension benefits. The petitioner, U Valarmathi's husband R Ulaganathan was employed as an office assistant in a college in Arupukottai. He had joined work in 1976 and availed medical leave in May 1991 to treat his illness. Since he was not cured of his illness, he couldn’t join duty immediately and he was subsequently terminated from service, the petitioner stated. In 2003, Ulaganathan moved the court and sought positive directions to reinstate him into service after, which he joined back as office assistant in the same college in January 2004. He was promoted to lab assistant in 2013 and retired from service a year later, petitioner added. However, the education department authorities rejected his application to consider the period of absence as special disability leave and informed that he would be considered as fresh entrant and his pension benefits will be calculated accordingly. When he appealed against the higher educational department’s order, the joint director of collegiate education filed a counter stating that according to Tamil Nadu pension rules, if a person is dismissed or removed from service, then the past service would be forfeited. Also, since there was no appeal on the earlier order, the order was final. It was also pointed out to the court that leave on loss of pay should not exceed 24 months and in this case the person was not in employment for 13 years. www.timesofindia.com/city/madurai/hc-suggests-amending-pension-rules-for-dismissals-arising-from-mental-illness/articleshow/66800966.cms -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/MhaNewsViewsIndia/SG2PR04MB3048D1D190173CE11CD10988A6D70%40SG2PR04MB3048.apcprd04.prod.outlook.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
