Nagpur, India: An engineer who worked for 33 years with the Maharashtra City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has won a legal fight to receive his full retirement benefits. The Bombay High Court’s Nagpur Bench ruled in favour of Devendra Jamnikar, bringing him long-awaited relief.

The decision was made by Justices Avinash Gharote and Abhay Mantri after Jamnikar approached the court. He was issued a show-cause notice by CIDCO on 11 April 2022 for not submitting a Scheduled Caste (SC) caste validity certificate. In response, he filed a petition in the High Court.

The court allowed him to continue working through an interim order, and he retired from CIDCO’s Nagpur office on 31 August 2023. However, after his retirement, CIDCO denied him pension and other retirement benefits.

His lawyer, Shailesh Narnavare, argued that this action was illegal since there had been no official order during his service to stop his benefits. The court agreed and ordered CIDCO to cancel its decision and release all due benefits.

Caste Certificate Background:
Jamnikar was originally issued a caste certificate under the 'Koli - Scheduled Caste' category in 1981. Based on this, he was appointed as an Assistant Engineer in 1990. Although he could not submit a caste validity certificate later, he was protected under the ‘Special Backward Class’ category by a government resolution in 1995. In 2011, he received a caste validity certificate confirming his Special Backward Class status.

The court noted that CIDCO had overlooked these key facts and ruled in favour of the engineer.