S R VEERASETTAPPA Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in all these petitions are or were teachers in Primary or Higher Secondary Schools of the Education Dept of the Govt of Karnataka. They were allotted from the former State of Mysore to the New State of Mysore (Karnataka) under sub-sec(1) of S.115 of the States Re-organisation Act, 1956, (hereinafter referred to as the S.R.Act). Most of them are still in service and some of them have retired from service. In these petitions, their common grievance is about the reduction of age of their retirement from 58 years to 55 years sought to be effected by the Karnataka (Determination of the Retirement Age of Certain Teachers) Act, 1975, (hereinafter referred to as the Act) . The petitioners have sought for a declaration as void and invalid- (i) the Karnataka (Determination of the Retirement Age of certain Teachers) Act, 1975; and (ii) the approval given by the Central Govt to the State Govt by the telex message d .21-1-1974 for reducing the age of retirement of teachers of ex-Mysore State from 58 to 55 years.

(2.) The consequential reliefs claimed by different petitioners will be adverted to later. We shall set out briefly the history of the fixation of age of superannuation of teachers of ex-Mysore State. In the former State of Mysore, the age of superannuation of teachers in Primary and Secondary Schools was raised from 55 to 58 years under sub-rule (4) of Rule 294 of the Mysore Services Regulations. In the other integrating areas of the new State of Mysore (Karnataka), the age of superannuation of teachers prior to 1-11-56, was 55 years. After 1-11-56 such disparity in the age of superannuation of teachers allotted from different integrating areas, continued till 14-4-1968 when uniformity was brought about by raising the age of superannuation of all teachers in Primary and Secondary Schools of the Dept of Education of the Govt of Karnataka, to 58 years by amendment of Rule 95 of the Karnataka Civil Services Rules, 1958 (hereinafter referred to as KCS.Rules). Later, the age of superannuation of such teachers was sought to be reduced from 58 years to 55 years by the Karnataka Civil Services (Twenty- second Amendment) Rules, 1973, with effect from 17-11-1973. .However, Cl(a) of amended Rule 95 of KCS. Rules provided that such reduction in the age of superannuation did not apply to teachers who were allottees from ex-Myscre State and their age of superannuation was allowed to remain as 58 years on account of the protection of their conditions of service under the proviso to sub-sec(7) of S.115 of the S.R.Act.

(3.) On 4-10-1973 the State Govt addressed the Central Govt seeking the letter's previous Approval for amending Rule 95 of KCS. Rules so as to i educe the age of superannuation of teachers who had the protection of their conditions of service under the proviso to S.115(7) of the S.R.Act. The Central Govt gave on 21-1-1974 its approval for such reduction of the age of superannuation of ex-Mysore teachers. Thereafter, the Governor of Karnataka made the Mysore Services (Amendment) Regulation, 1974 (which came into force on 30-1-1974) purporting to amend Rule 294 of the Mysore Services Regulations. By that amendment, the age of superannuation of ex-Mysore teachers was sought to be lowered from 58 to 55 yrs with effect from 1-3-1974. Pursuant to such amendment the Strte Govt sought to retire teachers from ex-Mysore State who had completed 55 years of age. Such action was challenged in WP.525 of 1974 and connected writ petitions. A Division Bench of this Court allowed those petitions and held that the Mysore Services (Amendment) Regulation, 1974, was ineffective to achieve the intended object and that ex-Mysore teachers could not be retired before they attained 58 years of age Thereafter, the Governor of Karnataka promulgated the Karnataka (Determination of the Retirement Age of Certain Teachers) Ordinance. 1975) Karnataka Ordinance 2 of 1975), (hereinafter referred to as the Ordinance) by which, the age of superannuation of ex-Mysore teachers was sought to be reduced to 55 years. The Ordinance was deemed to have come into force on 30-1-1974. It has since been replaced by the Act.