Party alleges exclusion of pre-merger service is unfair and urges government to recognise teachers’ entire qualifying service
TFP Bureau, Raipur, August 16, 2026: The Congress has urged the Chhattisgarh government to include the service period rendered by teachers before their 2018 merger into the regular education cadre while calculating their pension benefits.
State Congress Chief Spokesperson Surendra Verma termed the government’s order on qualifying service for pension as an “anti-teacher conspiracy” and alleged that it would deprive a large number of teachers of the full pension benefits they had earned through their years of service.
Verma said the government’s decision to treat 2018, the year of merger, as the starting point of service was discriminatory. He pointed out that many teachers had already completed around eight years of service before their merger and argued that excluding this period from pension calculations amounted to denying them their legitimate retirement benefits.
He further claimed that the Chhattisgarh High Court had previously held that pre-merger service should be counted while determining service eligibility for retirement benefits. According to Verma, the latest government decision is therefore inconsistent with the earlier judicial position and needs to be reconsidered.
The Congress spokesperson said government employees under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) are required to complete 33 years of qualifying service to receive a full pension. If the service rendered before 2018 is excluded in the case of merged teachers, he said, a large number of teachers would be unable to meet the required qualifying service period.
Verma alleged that the government had first discontinued the OPS and was now further restricting pension benefits for teachers. He called upon the state government to recognise the entire qualifying service of teachers, including their pre-2018 service, and ensure that their pension rights are protected.
