New Delhi [India], April 21 : A former municipal councillor has approached the Delhi High Court seeking the release of retirement benefits for the service she rendered as a nurse in an MCD Hospital.
The petitioner Neelam Dhiman was an employee of the MCD as Public Health Nurse (PHN). She was elected as the municipal councillor in 2012.
The petitioner is 67 years of age and challenged the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) of September 2022 dismissing her appeal against the MCD commissioner denying her retirement benefits.
The Division bench of Justices Kameswar Rao and Anoop Kumar Mendiratta directed the parties to file their written submissions and judgements they rely upon in the matter.
The matter has been listed on September 2023 for further hearing.
Neelam Dhiman has moved an appeal through Advocate Gagan Gandhi and submitted that she joined MCD on March 23, 1985. She was promoted to the post of public health nurse (PHN) in the School Health Scheme in 1997.
The petition stated that she resigned from her post on March 21, 2012, to file the nomination for MCD elections. She contested and was elected as a municipal councillor.
It is her case that on March 26, 2012, her resignation was accepted. She also deposited Rs 2,09, 217 with the MCD as salary, which the civic body accepted. In May 2013, she sent a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of MCD requesting service benefits which was not released by the body, the petition stated.
"Thereafter on July 24, 2014, the petitioner made a request to consider her resignation as retirement. The request was rejected in October 2014 by the body," the petition added.
The petition also stated that the MCD in January 2015 sought a clarification from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) regarding the conversion of resignation into VRS on the request made by the Petitioner made by her in November 2014.
"The Standing Committee of the MCD in November 2015 approved a resolution to treat her resignation as retirement under VRS. Thereafter, in 2016 the MCD against sought clarification from the DoPT," the petition stated.
In April 2018, DoPT stated that there is no rule for conversion of resignation into voluntary retirement and hence the matter is to be decided by the MCD.
Thereafter another request by her to the MCD to release service benefits was rejected in July 2018. Following that the petitioner moved to the CAT. Her appeal was rejected by the CAT in 2022.
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