Technical resignation is a bridge, not a guillotine, says Karnataka High Court

Bengaluru The High Court of Karnataka has castigated the State government for failing to pay pension to a retired university professor, even two years after his superannuation, merely because it was dithering over the erroneous question of whether he is entitled to pension under the old or the new scheme. Affirming that the retired law professor is entitled to pension under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), the Court directed the government to pay pension within eight weeks with arrears with an interest of 6% per annum from the due date. Meanwhile, the court warned that failure to comply within the extended timeline will result in a punitive interest of 12% per annum and litigation costs of ₹1 lakh to the government.

A Division Bench comprising Justice M. Nagaprasanna and Justice Hema Kulkarni passed the order whole dismissing an appeal filed by the government challenging the singe judge’s March 2026 judgement declaring that the retired professor, Chidananda Reddy S. Patil, is entitled for pension under OPS.

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