SUNITI KUMAR GHOSAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These three writ petitions would raise identical issues and have accordingly been heard together.

(2.) The petitioners in the three writ petitions are/were employees of the West Bengal State Electricity Board (in short WBSEB), presently the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (in short the Distribution Company) and the West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Limited (in short the Transmission Company). The petitioners in W.P. No. 5570 (W) of 2011 (Suniti Kumar Ghoshal and Ors.-vs.-Union of India and Ors.) are all existing employees of the Distribution Company and the Transmission Company. The petitioners in the other two writ petitions are all retired employees of the Distribution Company and the Transmission Company as well as the West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited.

(3.) The basic grievance of the petitioners is that they have been prevented from switching over to the West Bengal State Electricity Board Employees (Deathcum- Retirement Benefits) Regulations, 1985 (in short the DCRB, 1985), which was brought into effect from 4th May, 1985. It is their case that they were never informed about the DCRB, 1985 and that it was more beneficial than the Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 by which they were governed. DCRB 1985 was compulsorily made applicable for those employees, who joined the WBSEB on or after 4th May, 1985. However, all the petitioners joined the WBSEB service prior to 4th May, 1985. It is the grievance of the petitioners that the DCRB was made gradually more and more attractive whereas the Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 remained unchanged for over a decade.