DR. D.Y. CHANDRACHUD, J.

1. By consent, the Petition is taken up for hearing and final disposal.

2. The Petitioner is an eighty seven year old senior citizen. On 30 May 1986 he retired from the Allahabad Bank, the First Respondent, as a Special Assistant after thirty-nine years of service. The Petitioner, it is undisputed, belongs to the category of award staff. In the Allahabad Bank as it was prior to nationalisation, there was a pension scheme, governed by Pension Rules which stipulated that special assistants, clerks (including typists) and cash clerks would be entitled to pension at the rate of 35% of the full monthly basic pay drawn during the twelve months immediately preceding the date of retirement with a minimum pension of Rs.50/per month. The Petitioner continued to receive pension under the Pension Rules even after the nationalisation of the bank.

3. The Retired Employees Association of the bank had moved the High Court of Allahabad in assertion of the statutory right of the retired employees to receive gratuity under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. The High Court held that the retired employees of the bank were entitled to the benefit of gratuity under the