IMPORTANT POINT
Classifying the Officers and personnel of Air Force who take voluntary premature retirement to take up immediate jobs in PSUs or autonomous bodies separately from the other voluntary prematurely retirees on personal grounds was valid.

JUDGMENT

R. V. RAVEENDRAN, J.—

This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment dated 14.3.2001 passed by the Bombay High Court in W.P. No.2973 of 1989.

2.Respondents 1 to 10 were commissioned into Indian Air Force (IAF for short) during 1963 to 1967. By the year 1987, they had put in more than 20 years of service and had reached the rank of either Group Captain or Wing Commander.

3.The Government of India, by Circulars dated 17.3.1986 and 19.2.1987 of the Defence Ministry, read with O.M. dated 6.3.1985 of Finance Ministry permitted pro-rata pensionary benefits to officers of defence services on their immediate absorption in Central Public Enterprises. As there was a surplus of officers in the middle seniority level, IAF came up with schemes from time to time enabling officers to take premature retirement voluntarily and join public sector undertakings (‘PSUs’ for short) and autonomous bodies, without losing the pensionary benefit relating to the IAF service. One such scheme notified on 1.4.1986 invited the officers in the age group of 40 to 47 years to retire voluntarily and join M/s. Vayudoot Ltd.- a public sector undertaking. Several IAF officers including Respondents 1 to 10 applied for premature retirement from IAF under the said scheme in order to join Vayudoot Ltd. By order dated 6.5.1987, the Air Headquarters accepted the proposal for permanent absorption of respondents in Vayudoot Ltd. and also conveyed the Government’s approval for premature retirement of the respondents from the Indian Air Force in public interest with effect from 18.5.1987. The respondents accordingly left IAF and joined Vayudoot Ltd. By order dated 13.7.1987, the Ministry of Defence sanctioned pensionary benefits to respondents in terms of Ministry’s Circular dated 19.2.1987.

4.The Government of India issued a Circular dated 30.10.1987 in regard to the implementation of the Government decisions on the recommendations of the Fourth Central Pay Commission relating to pensionary benefits for Armed Forces Officers/personnel retiring or dying in harness on or after 1.1.1986. The said circular modified the rules and regulations concerning pensionary benefits of Commissioned Officers and personnel below officer rank, to the extent indicated therein. Clause 5 of the said circular defined “qualifying service” reckonable for pension and Death-cum-Retirement gratuity as follows :

(i)the actual qualifying service rendered by the officer plus a specified weightage, for purposes of pension (the weightage being 9 years in the case of Pilot Officers and Flight Lieutenants, 8 years for Squadron Leaders, 7 years for Wing Commanders and Group Captains, 5 years for Air Commodores, and 3 years for Air Vice Marshals and Air Marshals).

(ii)the actual qualifying service rendered by the officer plus a weightage of 5 years for purposes of Death-cum-Retirement Gratuity.

The grant of above weightage was subject to the condition that total qualifying service including weightage shall not exceed 33 years. Notes (1) and (3) to clause 5 of the circular dated 30.10.1987 relevant for our purpose are extracted below:

“(1)There will be no weightage for officers and personnel below officer rank who retire prematurely for permanent absorption in PSUs and autonomous bodies.

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(3)The above weightage shall not be reckoned for determining the minimum qualifying service specified for admissibility of Retiring/service Pension i.e. 20 years for service officers (15 years for late entrants), 15 years for personnel below officer rank and 20 years for NCs(E).”

In view of Note (1) to clause 5, the pension and retirement gratuity of the respondents were settled by treating the actual service rendered by them, as the ‘qualifying service’, without addition of any weightage.

5.The respondents were aggrieved by the non-addition of weightage to their qualifying service, for purposes of pension and gratuity. According to them, when the scheme was introduced, they were assured that there