Judgment

GROVER, J.:- These appeals by special leave are from a judgment of a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court affirming the decision of a learned single Judge who had dismissed the writ petitions of the appellants.

2. The appellant in C. A. 1789/69 entered service as a teacher in a private aided school on March 14, 1946. Both the appellants in C. A. 1790/69 had joined service originally as teachers in aided schools but they entered Government school service on August 17, 1958 and December 13, 1948 respectively. Similarly in C. A. 1791/69 the appellant joined government service as a teacher and attained the age of 55 on July 2, 1968.

3. It appears that on November 22, 1965 all associations of Government and private aided school teachers of which the appellants were members submitted a memorandum to the Government making various demands. One of these (No. 11) was that the age of retirement of school teachers should be raised to 60 years. On July 14, 1966 the Government issued an order by which the age of retirement was raised from 55 to 58 years. Paragraph 8 of this order was in the following terms:-

"The age of retirement of at teachers including Head Masters of aided schools will be raised to 58 with effect from 1-7-1966. This will be subject to the condition that the appointing authority may with previous approval of the Director of Public Instruction in the case of High and Training Schools require the teacher to retire after he attains the age of 55 years, on three months notice without assigning any reason. The teachers may also after attaining 55 years, voluntarily retire after giving three months notice to the appointing authority."

The order mentioned above was followed by an amendment in the relevant rules in the Kerala Education Rules framed under the Kerala Education Act 1958 (Act 6 of 1959). On May 4, 1967 another order was issued by the Government in suppression of the previous orders. By this order the age of compulsory retirement of all Government employees and aided school teachers whose age of retirement on superannuation under the existing order was 58 years was lowered to 55 years. It was, however, stated that all those who had already crossed the age of 55 years or who might attain the age of 55 within a period of three months from the date of the order would retire only on the date of expiry of three months. The necessary amendments were formally made both in the Kerala Education Rules framed under the Act 6 of 1959 and the Kerala Service Rules made by the Governor in exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution.

4. We may at this stage refer to the relevant statutory provisions and the Rules. Act 6 of 1959 was enacted to provide for the better organisation and development of educational institutions in the State. Section 12 (1) of the Act provides that the conditions of service of teachers in aided schools including the conditions relating to pay, pension, provident fund, insurance and age of retirement shall be such as may be prescribed by the Government. Section 36 confers power on the Government to make rules. The rules which have been framed under Section 36, namely, the Kerala Education Rules 1959, hereinafter called the "Education Rules" originally contained Chapter XXVII. In February 1965 this Chapter was renumbered as XXVII-A. Another Chapter XXVII-B was added. R. 8 in Chapter XXVII-A appearing under the head "pension" is in the following terms:-

"8. The age of retirement on superannuation shall be 55 years.

Note.- In the case of those who were in service of any aided school prior to 4-9-1957 the age of retirement on superannuation shall be 60 years subject to the condition that the service beyond 55 years shall not qualify for pension and gratuity under these rules."

In Chapter XXVII-B the following rules may be noticed:

"1. The Rules in this Chapter shall come into force on 1-10-1964.

2. These Rules shall apply to teachers in aided schools to whom the rules in