Employees Completing 5 Years of Contract Service to Qualify for Pension

 

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ruled that continuous contract service may be counted toward pension benefits when a government employee is later regularised.

The decision was issued in a case concerning the widow of a former Punjab government employee. The employee had worked on a contract basis from 2005 and was later regularised in 2010. He died in 2016, following which his widow applied for pension and other service-related benefits.

The Punjab government challenged the claim, arguing that only the period following regularisation could be included in the pension calculation. Officials maintained that the employee had not completed the required 10 years of qualifying regular service.

The LHC disagreed with the government’s position, ruling that the employee’s five years of continuous contract service before regularisation should also be considered when determining his pension entitlement.

The court observed that the employee had remained in uninterrupted government service before being appointed on a regular basis. Therefore, the earlier period of service could not be completely disregarded for pension purposes.

The court subsequently dismissed the Punjab government’s appeal and upheld the previous judgment in favour of the deceased employee’s widow.

The ruling may have broader significance for government employees who initially serve on contract and are later regularised. It establishes that continuous service before regularisation can be relevant to pension rights, rather than automatically excluding the contract period from the calculation.