JUDGMENT

Ruma Pal, J.-The issue to be decided in this appeal is whether the decision of this Court in D.S. Nakara v. Union of India1 obliges the appellant to pay pension calculated on the revised scales of pay under the West Bengal Services (Revision of Pay and Allowances) Rules, 1990, to all the erstwhile employees of the State Government irrespective of their date of retirement.

2. The West Bengal Services (Revision of Pay & Allowances) Rules, 1990 (referred to hereafter as the 1990 ROPA Rules ), inter-alia, revised the pay scales of State Government employees w.e.f. 1st January 1986. It covered those employees who were in service on 1.1.86 even though such employees may have retired before the 1990 ROPA Rules were in fact published. As far as these retired employees were concerned, their pay could only be revised notionally and a memorandum was issued on 25th April 1990 giving them pensionary benefits calculated on the basis of such notionally revised scales of pay.

3. The notification was challenged by the respondent-association, the members of which are all pre-1986 retirees. They filed a writ petition before the Calcutta High Court claiming that they too were entitled to t