Judgment

Syed Shah Mohammed Quadri, J.-Leave is granted.

2. This appeal, an off-shoot of the judgment of this Court in Common Cause v. Union of India1, arises from the judgment and order of a Division Bench of the Madras High Court in Writ Petition No. 12381 of 1996 dated January 22, 1998.

3. The appellant, who is a Senior Advocate and a member of the Madras High Court Bar, filed writ petition No. 12381 of 1996, a public inter­est litigation, in the High Court of Madras challenging Memorandum No. 34/2/86-P & PW(G) dated August 22, 1990 issued by Department of Pen­sion and Pensioner’s Welfare and also the letter dated September 26, 1990, applying the above said Memorandum to the Department of Justice, and seeking declaration that it does not apply to the Judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court of India.

4. The substance of the appellant’s case before the High Court was that the Supreme Court had issued direction that payment of reduced pension on account of communication of a part of the pension of a Government employee should be only for a period of 15 years “from the date of retirement”, but the Union of India issued impugned Memorandum changing it to “from the date of commut