According to the Allahabad High Court, it is not possible for the Uttar Pradesh government to withhold the salary of its employees just because they had not subscribed to the National Pension System (NPS).
A writ petition had been filed by a few employees of the Uttar Pradesh government as they had not been paid their salaries because their employer, that is, the state government, had made it compulsory for all employees to subscribe to the NPS if they had joined after 1 April, 2005. For those employees who had joined before this date, it was voluntary. Since the petitioners had not subscribed to NPS, their salary was held back by their department.
The petitioners had challenged the order saying that NPS cannot be made compulsory and that their salary cannot be held back simply because they had decided not to opt for the scheme.
The Lucknow bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia had directed the state government to not stop the salaries of the petitioners till the matter was decided.
The National Pension System (NPS) is a voluntary, defined contribution retirement savings scheme which allows its subscribers to make the best decisions about their future via systematic savings while they are in service.
