M.S. KARNIK, J.

1. Heard

2. Rule. The respondents waive service. By consent, Rule made returnable forthwith and heard finally.

3. By this Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners seek quashment of the order dated 22/06/2018 denying them pension and further declaration that the petitioner-employees of Ayurvedic, Unani and homeopathic aided educational institutions opting for voluntary retirement/resignation, after completing qualifying service period, are entitled to pension and gratuity benefits.

The brief facts of the case are as under :

4. The petitioners are appointed on various dates with the respondent Nos. 4 to 7-Colleges. The details of their appointment and length of services are mentioned in the chart which is at page 6 of the Petition Memo. All the petitioners have admittedly completed more than 20 years of service. It is the petitioner’s case that they voluntarily retired from service of their respective Colleges by giving letters in the form of resignation. According to the petitioners, they have opted for voluntary retirement from service. Their letters are to be read as for voluntary retirement, though it is in the form of re