N. A. BRITTO, J.

( 1 ) IN this petition, the petitioner who is an employee of the respondent Vijaya Bank seeks direction against the said bank to treat his application for voluntary retirement as withdrawn and to continue him in service and not to relieve him with effect from 31-5-01 as consequential benefits.

( 2 ) THE petitioner is an employee who joined respondent Vijaya Bank on 2-7-1973 and in normal course was due to retire on 31 -3-08. The petitioner was the Assistant Manager at the time of filing this petition.

( 3 ) THE said bank is a body corporate governed under the provisions of banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1980 and the service conditions between the petitioner and the said bank are governed by the Vijaya Bank (Officers) Service Regulations while the service conditions of the staff are governed by the awards made from time to time and by bipartite settlements.

( 4 ) THE respondent bank first introduced what is known as Vijaya Bank (Employees') Pension Regulations, 1995, ("regulations", for short) as per the guidelines of the Indian Banks Association. The Regulations, inter alia, provided that on or after 1-11-1993 an employee