UMESH DEVAJI BURANDE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This full Bench has been constituted by the Hon 'ble the Chief Justice, for answering the following two questions :-

(2.) The need for constituting the Full Bench was felt as the learned Division Bench (Shri Sunil B. Shukre and Shri Anil S. Kilor, JJ.) in Umesh Burande 's case [Writ Petition No.4832/2018] while considering the effect of the Government Resolution dated 1/7/2016 in the background of the earlier Government Resolution dated 30/4/2005, and the judgment of another learned Division Bench of this Court (Shri Prasanna B. Varale and Shri Nitin W. Sambre, JJ.) in Sandip Phulchand Tandale Vs. The State of Maharashtra and others (Writ Petition No.4409/2019, dated 22/4/2019), which also considered the above two Government Resolutions and had held that since the policy of the year 2005 stood superseded by the new policy of the year 2016, the latter would apply and no claim could be laid on the basis of the former, felt that the principles of 'Promissory Estoppel ' and 'Legitimate Expectation ' were required to be considered in the matter of withdrawal of the benefits of the earlier policy and thus was of the opinion that the controversy needed to be put at rest by an authoritative pronouncement of a Larger Bench on the above questions, whereupon the Hon 'ble the Chief Justice has constituted this Full Bench.

(3.) Before we advert to the arguments, the background facts leading to the present position as occurring in Writ Petition No. 4832/2018 are summarized as under :