JUDGMENT :

M.R. Shah, J.

1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment(s) and order(s) passed by the High Court of judicature at Patna in respective letters patent appeals, the respective original writ petitioners – work charged employees, whose services were subsequently regularized as per the Work Charged Establishment Revised Service Conditions (Repealing) Rules, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as “Rules, 2013”), have preferred the present appeals.

2. For the sake of convenience, Civil Appeal Nos. 3158-3159 of 2023 (Maheshwar Pandey Vs. State of Bihar and Ors.) is being treated as the lead matter.

2.1 The issue involved in the present appeals is with respect to the counting of the period of work charged services for the purpose of computing pensionary benefits and the length of pensionable service.

2.2 A Larger Bench of the High Court by the impugned judgment and order while upholding Rule 5(v) of the Rules, 2013 has held that the period spent in the work charged establishment would be counted only to the extent of the shortfall in the qualifying period of service for grant of pension, which shall be made up by adding that period spent under the work charged establis