AMAR NATH MUKHERJEE Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The fundamental grievance of the appellants, and of the petitioners in the writ petition which has been tagged with the three appeals, is that they have been wrongfully prevented from opting in favour of a pension scheme that confers more rewards than the previous regime under which they continue to be governed.

(2.) Since the appellants, who had also instituted writ petitions which were dismissed by a common judgment and order of April 25, 2014, and the petitioners in WP 9603(W) of 2016 seek similar reliefs as declined to the appellants, the appellants and the writ petitioners are collectively referred to as the writ petitioners herein or, simply, as the petitioners. The employer in question was, at the relevant time, the West Bengal State Electricity Board which has since been reorganised and broken into two distinct companies by the names of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited and the West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Limited.

(3.) Of the four lots of writ petitioners, only those in WP No. 5570(W) of 2011, which has given rise to FMA 35 of 2019, continued as existing employees, whether of the distribution company or the transmission company, at the time of the institution of the petition. The three other lots of writ petitioners were all retired by the time they invoked the jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution. Most of them had retired from the Board itself, while others may have retired from the distribution company or the transmission company upon the reorganisation of the erstwhile Board and the transfer of its employees to the successor companies.