The Allahabad High Court has put on hold the state government’s order to stop the salary of the employees who did not join the new pension scheme. In the mandate issued on December 16, 2022, it has been said that the salary of the employee who has not registered for the new pension scheme should be withheld. The court has asked the state government to answer in this matter and said that the salary of the petitioners who do not adopt NPS should not be stopped till further orders.
This order has been given by Justice Neeraj Tiwari after hearing advocate Agnihotri Kumar Tripathi and others on the petition of Shivam Sharma and 316 others. Hundreds of employees have challenged the mandate by filing petitions. There is a provision in the mandate that the salaries of those employees who do not adopt the new pension scheme will be withheld.
Advocate Agnihotri Kumar Tripathi said that the state government has issued a mandate on December 16, 2022, making a provision that the salary of employees who do not register in the National Pension Scheme (NPS) will be withheld. The petitioners say that the provisions of the National Pension Scheme are such that no employee can be compelled to adopt it and the salary of the employee who does not take NPS cannot be withheld.
It was said in the petition that the High Court, while hearing several petitions filed earlier in this matter, has stayed the order of salary deduction. Accepting the matter for hearing, the court has asked the state government to file its reply. Also said that the salary of the petitioners will not be stopped till the next hearing. It is noteworthy that the employees have been agitating for a long time against the adoption of the new pension scheme. State government employees are opposing it. While issuing mandate to the employees to adopt the new pension scheme, the government has warned the salaries of such employees to be withheld.