ISHWARDAS M KARIYA Vs. DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short facts of the case are that the petitioner was formerly employee of erstwhile princely State of Junagadh. That State was merged firstly in the State of Saurashtra on 20.1.11999. The petitioner continued in services of State of Saurashtra. Then the State of Saurashtra was merged in the new bilingual State of Bombay and ultimately in the State of Gujarat. It is the case of the petitioner that as per the Junagadh State Service Rules which were framed in exercise of sovereign functions, the age of retirement of the employee was 60 years and this service condition was to be protected. The contention of the petitioner is that the service conditions of the erstwhile employees of the princely State which merged in the State constituted after independence of the country can not be changed to their disadvantage without prior approval of the Central Govt. Reference in this regard has been made to the provisions of Sub.sec.7 of Section 115 of the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960. Reference has also been made to the provisions made under Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960. It has been submitted that in the case of one Shri T.K.Budecha the civil court had passed a decree holding that he can be retired only at the age of 60 years and the case of the petitioner is that he is also similarly situated, and therefore, the petitioner who is asked to retire at the age of 58 years is illegal and he should have been allowed to continue in service upto the age of 60 years and his pension is also required to be fixed accordingly.

(2.) Before I deal with the contentions raised on behalf of the petitioner it is worthwhile to note that in the para 6 of the CAV judgment rendered earlier Special Civil Application Nos 2691/89, 5124, 1556 and 6353/96 this court (Coram: S.K.Keshote,J) on 20.1.2001 this court had ordered as under:

(3.) After the aforesaid judgment passed by this court, the High Power Committee of the State Govt. considered the matter and on 19.2.02 the decision is rendered of rejecting the request of the petitioner on the ground that the petitioner had voluntarily accepted the application of Bombay Civil Service Rules ("BCSR" for short) and had also not given consent for applicability of pension as per Junagadh State and had also availed of various benefits as per the provisions of BCSR applicable in Gujarat State including payscale and others and therefore it was decided by the authority that when the petitioner has voluntarily agreed to be abided by the provisions of BCSR applicable in Gujuarat State and has also availed of various benefits the request of the petitioner can not be accepted. Since the liberty was granted for revival of the special civil application the petitioner preferred MCA No.984/02 in SCA No.1556/90 and as per the order dated 4.9.02 passed by this court (Coram:A.H.Mehta,J) the SCA No.1556/90 was ordered to be revived and accordingly this petition is listed for hearing before this court.