N. SRINIVASAN Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Since the issue involved in all these Writ Petitions is with regard to the entitlement of retiral benefits by the petitioners, who are ex - employees of the respective second respondent Insurance Companies, they are taken up together and disposed of by this common order.

(2.) Considering the common point to be decided, before going into the merits of the case, it would be better to brief the Schemes introduced in this regard.

(3.) With a view to enable the employees of the Insurance Companies to retire prematurely on certain conditions with some special benefits, the Government of India vide Notification dated 01.01.2004 introduced a Scheme called General Insurance Employees' Special Voluntary Retirement Scheme 2004 [for short referred to as ?SVRS 2004?], which was made applicable to all 5 Public Sector Insurance Companies, viz., General Insurance Company, National Insurance Company, Oriental Insurance Company, United India Insurance Company and New India Assurance Company, as per which the employees and officers who had attained the age of 40 years and completed 10 years of qualifying service as on the date of Notification were eligible for voluntary retirement.