Authority: Calcutta High Court
Order Date: 27 August 2026
Case Overview
- Petitioner Modan Mohan Mondal, a former employee of Punjab National Bank (P.N.B.) who retired under the Compulsory Retirement Scheme in 2006, filed writ petition WPA 19274 of 2026 seeking benefit under Circular No. 6 of 2018 which allowed eligible retirees (service between 29 Sep 1995 and 27 Apr 2010) to opt into a pension fund by applying in writing within 60 days (June 7 2018 – August 13 2018) and to refund the bank’s PF contribution plus 86 % of that amount.
- The petitioner claimed he was unaware of the circular until 2020 because the circular was not sufficiently advertised, and therefore missed the 60‑day application window. He submitted his application in 2020; the bank rejected it in 2024, and the petitioner approached the court in July 2026.
- The bank contended that Circular No. 6 was published on its official website (Advertisement No. 6 of 2018) and that the 60‑day window had closed, leaving no scheme available for the petitioner.
- The court examined the petitioner’s reliance on Supreme Court judgments (Calcutta Port Trust vs Anadi Kumar Das, 2014; Bank of India vs Muthyala Saibaba, 2025) and a Division Bench judgment (Board of Trustees for the Port of Kolkata vs M.S. Khandpur, 2008), finding that those cases involved complete lack of publicity, which was not the situation here.
- The court noted the petitioner offered no explanation for the eight‑year gap between the 2018 circular and his 2020 application, nor for the six‑year delay between the 2024 rejection and the 2026 writ filing.
Final Outcome
- The writ petition is dismissed in its entirety. No order as to costs is made. An urgent photostat certified copy of the order may be provided to the parties on priority.
Topics: Pension Scheme, Banking Law