The Lahore High Court has dismissed the Punjab government’s appeal against a decision granting pension and other benefits to the widow of a deceased government employee.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Muzammal Akhtar Shabbir ruled that continuous contract service followed by regularisation must be counted toward pension eligibility in the case.

Contract service included in pension

The employee joined the Health Department as a contract naib qasid in 2005 and was regularised in 2010. He died in 2016, leaving his widow to seek pensionary benefits.

The Punjab government argued that pension required 10 years of regular service and that the employee’s contract period could not be included. The court rejected this argument, ruling that his uninterrupted five-year contract service must be counted because he was later regularised.

LHC refers to Supreme Court ruling

The court also referred to a Supreme Court judgment supporting the inclusion of continuous contract service in pension calculations after regularisation.

It clarified that contract service would not qualify if it had been interrupted. However, the employee in this case had served continuously, making his previous service eligible for consideration.

Appeal dismissed by court

The Lahore High Court upheld the earlier single bench decision that granted pension and related benefits to the widow. It subsequently dismissed the Punjab government’s appeal.

The ruling reinforces the importance of continuous service in determining pension rights for government employees who begin their careers on contract and are later regularised.