EPS 95 Higher Pension Order: Analysis of Supreme Court Judgement Delivered on 29 January 2021 for Easy Understanding of EPS 95 Pensioners

Analysis of Supreme Court Judgement delivered on 29 January 2021 Shared by Mr. Pankaj Sreevasthava for EPS 95 Pensioners Information. who was a top retired executive who served in Wipro, Siemens, Reliance IT & IBM.

There is some misconception on the whole SC proceedings and that is understandable as we are all not too well versed with the SC Court functioning and its nuances.

On speaking to some experts – my understanding on what has happened now is as under:

1. SC by dismissing the earlier order of 1st April 2019 – has only allowed the SLP from UOI to be accepted for further hearing on the validity of their objections for the dismissal by a three bench judge headed by CJI. 

2.There was no hearing from our lawyers during this hearing – as it was not called for  as per process – they only heard the petitioners on the reasons for seeking acceptance of the SLP

3.Since our lawyers were not expected to provide any input – and only the judges were hearing the UOI plea on the SLP – no stay was given on the Kerala HC order – that remains – including the ability to file contempt proceedings – where ever HC have given judgement and action not initiated.

4. Again on 25th Feb – a more detailed submission has to be done by the UOI on why there is merit in their petition – in which again our lawyers will not be required to present any counter argument to the plea

5. Based on the details submitted and during the plea hearing  on 25th Feb or any subsequent date set for further hearing based on the hearing of 25th Feb - the Judges would be able to question and seek clarifications of any missing details not provided by the UOI. 

6. In case the SC  are not satisfied with the UOI objections to the earlier SC judgements as also HC – including the one on 1st Apr 2019 – they may dismiss the plea again – and earlier decision stands – which means case is won by us.

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7. In case the SC feels there is some merit to the objections of UOI – then since the earlier decisions were decided by a 3 court bench – they will refer the case to a 5 court bench which has to be constituted – as this 3 court bench is not empowered to overrule the earlier 3 court bench judgement

8. In the above case – when the 5 court bench is constituted – our lawyers will be called to challenge all the objections of UOI – and only after proper hearing will a final order gets passed.

Agreed we have delays at hand in the above process – but we do not need to lose hope – there is a high probability that on 25th Feb or during any subsequent hearing at the stage of admissibility of the UOI plea we may get a decision which is earlier decision stands.

I thought of sharing the above for the benefit of all – than we all ending up putting negative comments. This is the judicial process of the country – and we should respect and also wait for the final outcome. My personal view is that we have a strong case – and we need not despair – even though it is a wait we are all looking forward to see a closure.