JUDGMENT :

[Per the Chief Justice] :

INTRODUCTORY NARRATIVE

1. These 3 (three) writ petitions are at the instance of the All India IDBI Officers Association (hereafter “Association”, for short), the I.D.B.I. Officers Organization (hereafter “Organization”, for short) and 4 (four) former employees (hereafter “petitioning employees”, for brevity) of the Industrial Development Bank of India Ltd. (hereafter “IDBI Ltd”, for short). The common and the principal contesting respondent in all these writ petitions is IDBI Ltd.

2. Arraying the Union of India, IDBI Ltd. and the Chairman of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (hereafter “PFRDA”, for short) as the 3 (three) respondents in that order, the Association in its writ petition dated 6th August 2012 has prayed that (a) the impugned circular dated 18th April 2012 (hereafter “impugned circular”, for short) be quashed upon declaring the same to be illegal and unconstitutional; (b) the respondents be directed to withdraw, cancel and/or rescind the impugned circular; (c) the respondents be directed to extend one more opportunity to opt for pension under IDBI Defined Benefit Pension Scheme to the officers who did not/or could not exercise an option earlier to opt for such scheme; and (d) the resolutions under which the PFRDA is functioning be declared as ultra vires the Constitution and the same may, accordingly, be set aside and quashed.

3. The impugned circular, referred to in prayer clauses (a) and (b) of the writ petition, purportedly notified a New Pension Scheme (hereafter “NPS”, for short). The said circular reads as follows:

“IDBI Bank/2012-13/53/DCPS/HR-8, April 18, 2012

Heads of Verticals, Departments,

CGM, Zonal PBG Offices,

Regional and Branch Heads,

JNIBF Staff College,

IDBI Bank Ltd.

Dear Sir/Madam

IDBI Bank Ltd. New Pension Scheme (IBLNPS)

The Board of Directors of the Bank at its meeting held on March 20, 2008, approved the proposal envisaging that the new recruits joining the service of the Bank on or after April 01, 2008, excluding those who have been already been issued Offer Letters and who were in the process of joining, shall not be placed under the existing IDBI Pension Scheme and would be offered ‘Defined Contribution Pension Scheme’ (DCPS), also referred as New/National Pension Scheme (NPS), to be drawn up by the Bank in due course.

The Board of Directors in its meeting held on October 20, 2011 has approved the ‘IDBI Bank Ltd New Pension Scheme (IBLNPS) Rules, 2011’. In light of the scope of the product offered by PFRDA, these Rules are further amended in the meeting of the Board of Directors held on March 28, 2012. The salient features of the Scheme, operational guidelines and the process flow have been provided in the Annexure I, Annexure II, and Annexure III respectively.

In the case of employees covered under IBLNPS, presently 10% of the pay Eligible for PF is being recovered and temporarily credited in their Provident Fund (Employees’ contribution) account. The Bank has also provided for its contribution as per the scheme.

From April 2012, recovery from salary will be made as per the provisions of the IBLNPS [i.e. 10% of (Basic pay + DA)]. The arrears for the period from Apr