Chandigarh: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) bench in Chandigarh has ordered restoration of former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore's pension, which was stopped after his conviction in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case.
Sixty-nine-year-old Rathore was awarded six months' rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 1,000 by the Chandigarh CBI court in December 2009 for molesting the 14-year-old tennis player on August 12, 1990.
The girl committed suicide three years later.
A division bench of the CAT headed by Justice SD Anand on Thursday ordered the restoration of the pension of Rathore, which was stopped by the Centre in June last year.
The bench observed that it was of the considered view that the competent authority could not have validly directed the withholding of pension on permanent basis.
In his petition challenging the Union government's decision, Rathore had pleaded that his pension has been stopped on a permanent basis without assigning any cogent reasons by the Central government.
"The pension of a person is not a bounty. It is a legal entitlement which can only be curtailed by an express provision of law and not otherwise," the petition added.
Rathore had also compared his case with that of former Punjab DGP KPS Gill who too was convicted on charges of molestation.
"No order for withholding the pension of KPS Gill who has also been found guilty of molestation. This despite the fact that the conviction of KPS Gill had attained finality on July 27, 2005 by the apex court," Rathore argued.
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