Judgment

CHANDRACHUD, CJI. : - In the elections held to the Legislative. Assembly of Andhra Pradesh in January 1983, a new political party called Telugu Desam was swept to power. It assumed office on Jan. 9, 1983. On Feb. 8, 1983 an order (G. O. Ms. No. 36) was issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh stating that it had decided to reduce the age of superannuation of all Government employees, other than in the last Grade Service, from 58 to 55 years. Two notifications issued in exercise of the power conferred by the proviso to Art. 309 read with Art. 313 of the Constitution were appended to that Order. The relevant Fundamental Rules were amended by the first notification, while the corresponding rules of the Hyderabad Civil Services Rules were amended by the second notification. By these notifications, every Government servant, whether ministerial or non-ministerial but not belonging to the last Grade Service, who had already attained the age of 55 years was to retire from service with effect from Feb. 28, 1983. Speaking to the Government employees in the Secretariat premises the next day, the Chief Minister justified the reduction of the retirement age from 58 to 55 years on the