1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioners, the State and the counsel for the Gandak Area Development Agency (hereinafter referred to as the Agency).

2. Petitioners in the two writ applications are the employees of the Agency. They have filed the two writ applications praying inter alia to direct the State respondents and its officers as also the Executive Committee of the Agency to enforce the service conditions in the matters of pay revision, leave encashment, group insurance and payment of gratuity in terms of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 as is applicable to the employees of the State Government in the light of the decision of the Executive Committee of the Agency taken in its meeting held on 29.6.1999 vide agenda item No. 13 and notified under office order No. 985 dated 10.8.1999, Annexure-3.

3. It is submitted on behalf of the petitioners that the State Government being conscious of the fact that Bihar is a State which is primarily dependent on agriculture and in order to improve and enhance the agricultural production it is necessary to modernize and develop the irrigation system to provide maximum irrigation facility to the lands falling within the span/comma