Notional service on voluntary retirement cannot create pension eligibility without the minimum qualifying service requirement.

A voluntary retirement provision granting five years' notional service could not be used to create eligibility for pension where the employee had retired before the pension scheme commenced and had not completed the qualifying service required by the regulations. The definition of qualifying service was read restrictively, covering only actual or statutorily recognized service, and the word "otherwise" was construed in context and not as a broad extension of eligibility. Clause (5) was held to operate only after qualifying service was already satisfied, for computation of enhanced benefits, and not to deem additional service for the purpose of meeting the minimum threshold. The pension claim on that basis therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether an officer employee who had voluntarily retired before the pension scheme came into force and had not completed the qualifying service contemplated by the pension regulations could claim addition of five years' notional service under the provision governing voluntary retirement.

Analysis: The definition of qualifying service was held to be restrictive and confined to service rendered while in service, including only such periods as the regulations specifically treat as service. The expression "otherwise" in the definition was construed ejusdem generis and could not be used to extend qualifying service to a person who was no longer in service. Clause (5) of the voluntary retirement provision was held to operate only after an employee had already completed the qualifying service required for pension and was intended for computation of enhanced monetary benefits, not for creating eligibility by deeming additional years of service.

Conclusion: The employee was not entitled to add five years' notional service under the pension regulation, and the claim for pensionary benefit on that basis failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A provision granting addition of notional service on voluntary retirement cannot be used to satisfy the minimum qualifying service for pension unless the regulation expressly creates such a deeming fiction; the term "otherwise" in a definition of qualifying service must be read in context and not so broadly as to extend eligibility beyond actual or statutorily recognized service.

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