ONKAR SINGH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution involve common question relating to the right to receive pension and since this question is common to all the writ petitions, they are being disposed of by this common order.

(2.) THE petitioners were sailors. They joined the services of the Indian Navy as Artificer Apprentices for a period of 15 years from the date of their respective appointments. They were discharged from service on different dates before completion of 15 years of service. The petitioners had completed 14 years of service at the time of discharge. The question involved in these petitions is whether the petitioners are entitled to pension under Service Pension and Gratuity Pension Regulations (Navy), 1964 hereinafter referred to as the pension regulations.

(3.) THE terms and conditions of service of sailors such as petitioners are governed by the Navy (Ceremonial Conditions of Service and Miscellaneous Provision) Regulations, 1963, hereinafter referred to as the "regulations" which were framed under section 184 of the Navy Act, 1957, hereinafter referred to as the Act. Section 11 relates to the enrolment of sailor. Section 11 (2) of the Act, as it stood at the material time, prescribed that: ection 11: Enrolment--- (1 ). . . . . (2) No person shall be enrolled as a sailor in the Indian Navy for a period exceeding fifteen years in the first instance provided that in the case of a minor the said period of fifteen years shall be reckoned from date on which he attains the age of eighteen. (3 ). . . . .