( 1 ) THE Appellant is dissatisfied with an order dated 30th August, 1999 passed by a learned Single Judge of this court dismissing his writ petition being CW No. 3830/1999.

( 2 ) THE Appellant was compulsorily retired from the services of the Punjab National Bank (for short the Bank) on 21st February, 1991. The compulsory retirement was a punishment for misconduct. The punishment has been accepted by the Appellant and is not a matter in issue. Subsequently however, the Bank came out with a pension scheme and, as a result of the punishment, the Appellant was not entitled to pension and that is why he filed a writ petition in this court claiming pension. Therefore, the issue before us is whether the denial of pension is legally sustainable or not.

( 3 ) SOMETIME in the early 1990s, negotiations took place between the workmen and employees of various banks and the Indian Banks Association. During these negotiations, an agreement was reached between the. parties whereby the Indian banks Association agreed to introduce a pension scheme in lieu of the employers contribution. to the provident fund. This agreement, under Section 2 (p) and Section 18 (1) of the industrial Disputes Act, 1947 read with Rule 56 of the industrial Disputes (Central) Rules, 1957 was reduced to writing on 29th October, 1993. Clause 1 and Clause 2 (iii) of the Settlement are relevant for our-present purposes and they read as under :-

"1. The member banks set out in the schedule 1 hereto shall introduce pension as second retirement benefit scheme in lieu of contributory provident fund where it does not exist for the workmen employees of the member banks with effect from 1st November, 1993. 2. Pension as a second, retiral benefit scheme in lieu of contributory provident fund shall be available to the following category of employees/ retired employees from 1st November, 1993 or the date of retirement, whichever is later. (i) and (ii) xxx xxx xxx (iii) Retired employees who were in service of the bank/merged bank on or after 31st December, 1985 and retired on. or after 1st January, 1986 but before 1st November, 1993 provided that such retired employees apply for it on their own on the format prescribed by each bank and refund within a period of six months reckoned from 1st November, 1993, the bank s entire contribution to the provident fund including interest received with further simple interest at the rate of 6 percent per annum from the date of withdrawal of the provident fund amount. till the date of refund. (iv) xxx xxx xxx"

( 4 ) THE Bank was one of the 58 banks which had agreed to implement the pension scheme, and there is no dispute about this.

( 5 ) CLAUSE 11 of the Settlement, reads as follows :-

"11. Actual. payment of pension in all cases shall commence from 1st November, 1993. "

( 6 ) A bare perusal of the aforesaid clauses shows that it was agreed that the pension scheme was to be operational from 1st November, 1993.

( 7 ) CLAUSE 8 of the Settlement permits the withholding of the benefits of the pension scheme, subject to certain conditions. This reads as follows :-

"8. Conditions on which pension in part or full can be withheld or withdrawn shall be set out in the Scheme to be formulated in terms of this settlement. "

( 8 ) PURSUANT to the Settlement dated 29th October, 1993, the Bank formulated the Punjab National Bank (Employees) Pension Regulations, 1995. (for short the Pension regulations ). The Pension Regulations were published in the official Gazette on 29th September, 1995 (which is the notified date ).

( 9 ) THE application of the Pension Regulations is dealt with in Regulation 3, the relevant portion of which, reads as follows :-

"3. Application these regulations shall apply to employees who, - 1 (a) were in the service of the Bank on or after the 1st day of January, 1986 but had retired before the 1st day of November, 1993; and (b) exercise an option in writing within one hundred and twenty days from the notified date to become m