ANIL POPAT CHOBHE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard. Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith. Mr. A.S. Shinde, Mrs. Vaishali N. Patil " Jadhav, Mrs. R.P. Gour, Mrs. M.A. Deshpande, learned Assistant / Additional Government Pleaders waive service for the respondent - State. At the joint request of learned advocate for the petitioners and the learned AGPs, the matters are heard finally at the admission stage.

(2.) The common issue that arises for our consideration in these five petitions is, whether the teachers appointed in aided schools on part-time basis prior to 1/11/2005 and approved as full time teachers after 1/11/2005 are entitled to be governed by the pension scheme under the Maharashtra Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1982 or whether they would be governed by the Defined Contributory Pension Scheme introduced by the State Government vide the Government Resolution dtd. 31/10/2005 ?

(3.) At the outset, we must indicate that this issue is no more res integra and has been covered by numerous decisions of this Court. Ordinarily, we would have followed those decisions instead of rendering this lengthy judgment. However, in view of extensive submissions made before us by the learned Additional / Assistant Government Pleaders urging us to take a view different than the one taken in those decisions, we have embarked upon the exercise of reconsidering the issue.