G P MISHRA Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) It will be proper to dispose of the above noted two writ petitions by this common order as the legal point involved in both the writ petitions is the same and is in respec! of pre-mature retirment in a Central Co- operative Bank. The point is also as to what is the age of retirement in a Central Co-operative Bank.

(2.) First I will refer to the relevant rules in respect of power of the management to retire prematurely its employees and then I will refer to the facts of each case.

(3.) Ajmer Central Co-operative- Bank Ltd. Ajmer as well as Bharatpur Central Co-operative Bank Ltd. Bharatpur are co-opertive societies registered under the Rajasthan Co-operative Societies Act, 1965 (for short, the Act) and they have their respective bye-laws, A bipartite settlement took place on July 31, 1980 in between the management of the Apex Co-operative Bank, Jaipur and the Officers Association and according to cluse 9 of the aforesaid settlement/agreement so far at the age of retirement is concerned, it was agreed that the age of retirement shall be 58 years. The said clause reads as under : It is not disputed that the said settlement/agreement was arrived at In accordance with clause 13 (2) of the said agreement/settlement, it was also agreed that in case of dispute on interpretation the decision of the Administrator/Chairman of the Apex Bank will be final. A question in respect of retirement age was referred to the Chairman of the Rajasthan State Co-operative Bank Ltd. Jaipur which is the Apex Body of the Co-operative Banks in Rajasthan and the Chairman took a decision on March 7, 1983. The Chairman in para 2 of the aforesaid decision which was to be final, referred to the relevant clauses of bipartite settlement/agreement dated July 31, 1980 and in para 3 of its decision said that it will not be proper to have the recourse to the aforesaid cluase 9 and 10 retire an employee after attaining the age of 55 years after giving three months notice in normal circumstances, and the recourse to the aforesaid clause regarding premature retirement in extraordinary circumstances. The relevant clause 3 of the decision of the Chairman is as under : There were subsequent bipartite settlements between the Administrator of the Apex Co-operative Bank and the Officers Association and one of the said settlements took place on August 11, 1987 in which it was agreed upon that the other facilities will be provided to the Members of the Association and other employees of the Bank in the same manner as poovided earlier meaning thereby that the age of retirement shall continue to be the same as 58 years. A similar bipartite agreement is said to have been arrived at on July 12, 1991 but so far as age of retirement is concerned, again the rule/order of the bipartite settlement dated July 31, 1980 contiuned to be in force.