V M GADRE Vs. M G DIWAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Judgment of the court was delivered by

(2.) BY this petition brought under Article 32 of the Constitution of India by and on behalf of the retired and in-service employees of Life Insurance Corporation of India ('LIC' for short) who were employees of the erstwhile Oriental government Security Life Assurance Company, Limited, (hereinafter called 'the Company'), certain reliefs in regard to the upward revision of pension and dearness allowance or dearness <PG>456</PG> relief payable thereon and other reliefs related thereto are sought. The brief facts which are relevant for our purpose are as follows.

(3.) THE Oriental employees is a withering class. At the date of the institution of the petition they numbered 669, all of whom barring two or three had retired, say the petitioners. Under the pension plan worked out for such employees, every employee had to contribute 5% of the substantive monthly salary and the employer had to make a matching grant every six months. So also the employer was required to pay interest on the monies contributed to the Fund so, however, that the total interest added at the end of each year was equivalent to 5% of the total Fund. After the Act, the LIC took over the assets and properties of the erstwhile Company. By reason of Section 8(1 of the Act, the Pension Fund came to be vested in the LIC. THE latter created a trust under Section 8(3, namely, the LIC (Oriental) Pension Fund which is being managed by the LIC under the Rules and Regulations made under the Act.