Judgment

S. C. AGRAWAL, J. :-The petitioners in this writ petition filed under Art. 32 of the Constitution are retired employees of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., an undertaking of the Government of India. Originally they were in the employment of Burmah Shell Oil Storage & Distributing Company of India Ltd. (for short Burmah Shell). In Burmah Shell there was a voluntary pension scheme wherein the employees on retirement were entitled to a prescribed percentage of their basic pay as pension: The pension was paid out of the non-contributory pension fund governed by a trust created in the year 1950. The said scheme was effective from January 1, 1947. Under the Regulations governing the payment of pension, provision was made for commutation of a part of the pension at the time of retirement by payment of a lump sum amount and making of a proportionate deduction from the monthly pension paid to the employee for repayment of the said amount. Burmah Shell was nationalised and taken over by the Government of India by the Burmah Shell (Acquisition of Undertakings in India) Act, 1976. Subsequently the shares of Burmah Shell Refineries (India) Ltd. were also acquired by the Government of India and the activities of Burmah Shell as well as Burmah Shell Refineries (India) Ltd. were merged to constitute the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. By a trust deed dated December 31, 1976, the original trust deed dated December 21, 1950, as modified from time to time, was supplemented and the said trust deed governs the payment of pension to the retired employees of the Burmah Shell. The petitioners are clerical employees of Burmah Shell who retired from service more than 10 years back. They are receiving pension and at the time of retirement they obtained payment of a lump sum amount by way of commutation of a part of the pension and a proportionate deduction is being made from pension amount payable to them for repayment of the said lump sum amount. In this writ petition the petitioners have prayed for restoration of the full pension after 10.1 / 2 years from the date of retirement to those employees who retired prior to April 1, 1985 and after 9.1 / 3 years from the date of retirement to those employees who retired after April 1, l985 :

2. The matter of restoration of deduction in monthly pension of the employees of the Central Government who obtained lump sum payment by way of commutation of a part of the pension was considered by this Court in "Common Cause" A Registered Society v. Union of India, (1987)1 SCR 497 wherein this Court has taken note of the decision of the Government of India, contained in the communication dated March 20, 1976 sent to the Attorney General of India, that the recovery from pension payable every month towards commuted value of pension would stop on the completion of 15 years from the date of retirement on super annuation or on the pensioner completing the age of 70 years, whichever is later. Under the directions of this Court, the said benefit was extended with effect from April 1, 1986 so far as civilian employees are concerned. After the said decision of this Court, Writ Petition No. 590 of 1987 was filed by the Bharat Petroleum (Erstwhile Burmah Shell) Management Staff Pensioners wherein a similar extension of the benefit of restoration of commuted value of pension after the expiry of the period of 15 years from the date of commutation was sought. Another relief that was sought in the said writ petition was regarding escalation in the amount of pension keeping in view the loss of purchasing power of the rupee and the general rise in the cost of living. The said writ petition was decided by the judgment dated May 11, 1988 reported as Bharat Petroleum (Erstwhile Burmah Shell) Management Staff Pensioners v. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., (1988) 3 SCC 32. During the course of hearing of the said writ petition, the petitioners requested that the question of restoration of the commuted value of the pension may n