JUDGMENT

V.S. Sirpurkar,, J. — Several writ petitions came to be filed in the High Court raising a common issue regarding the superannuation age. All the petitioners were serving in different private colleges which were enjoying the grant-in-aid by the Government. They were serving in the capacity as Lecturers, Professors, Readers, Librarians, Physical Education Teachers, etc. Their common prayer in the writ petitions was that their age of superannuation which was hitherto 58 or 60 years, as the case may, should be raised to 62 years. For this they all commonly relied on a communication No.F.1.22/97-U.I dated 27.7.1998. The claim made by the petitioners was that firstly the decision of the Government of India was mandatory and binding vis-a-vis the colleges/universities. This was all the more reiterated in the backdrop that the Central Government was providing financial assistance to the State Government in implementing the scheme of revision of pay scales. It will be better for us to quote the whole letter dated 27.7.1998 since the same happens to be the main and by far the only basis for the prayers made in the writ petitions (unfortunately, the copies of the writ petitions have