New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Saturday struck down a Manipur government memorandum that classified pensioners into two classes based on their year of retirement and granted more benefits to those who retired after 1996.
A bench of Justices MR Shah and AS Bopanna restored a single-judge bench order of the Manipur High Court that held that all pensioners, irrespective of their date of retirement, shall be entitled to revision in pension at par with those pensioners who retired post 1996 and directed that the arrears be paid to the pensioners within three months.
The Manipur government had in 1999 increased the quantum of pension as well as the pay of state employees. On April 21, 1999, it issued a memorandum in this regard.
Observing that Article 14 of the Constitution of India assured equality before law, the court pointed out classification of pensioners had no reasonable nexus to the objective sought to be achieved while revising the pension. (IANS)
