JUDGMENT :

Sanjeev Kumar, J.

LPASW No.11/2019 & LPASW No.13/2019

1. These two appeals filed under Clause 12 of the Letters Patent of this Court; one filed by the State of J&K and the other by the Jammu and Kashmir State Industrial Development Corporation (‘SIDCO’ hereafter), are directed against the judgment dated 09.10.2018 passed by the learned Single Judge (the Writ Court) in SWP No. 775/2017 titled Hamidullah Andrabi and ors v. State of J&K and others, whereby the Writ Court has allowed the writ petition of the respondents and directed the appellants herein to pay and grant pensionary benefits to the respondents in accordance with their entitlement as per Rules governing the government servants, as were available to them before issuance of SRO 400 of 2019 dated 24.12.2009.

2. The writ petitioners, the respondents herein, are retired employees of SIDCO, who were not paid any retirement pension at the time of their superannuation. They claim to have made some representations to the appellants for release of pensionary benefits but could not persuade the appellants for grant of retirement pension.

3. The litigation initiated by the respondents by way of SWP No. 775/2017 was triggered by the decision of this Court in the case of employees of the Jammu and Kashmir Industries Limited (JKI), who, after a long battle in this Court, ultimately succeeded in getting the pensionary benefits on par with the government employees.

4. The case set up by the respondents in their writ petition was modelled primarily on the writ petition SWP No. 1250/2002 filed by the employees of JKI and their writ petition too has been decided by the learned Writ Court, primarily on the analogy of SWP No. 1250/2002.

5. The facts are not much in dispute. The respondents do not claim to be the employees of the Government but claim that, being the employees of SIDCO, they are similarly placed with the employees appointed to JKI who were held by this Court entitled to pension on par with government employees.

6. Before we proceed to appreciate the grounds of challenge urged by Mr. B. A. Dar, learned Sr. AAG appearing for the appellants, it is necessary to first have a glance on the litigation that was initiated by the employees of JKI.

7. Prior to the year 1963, various Industrial Units were being run by the Department of Industries of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. However, in the year 1963, the then Governor of the State of Jammu and Kashmir by order No. 189-C of 1963 dated 10.08.1963 constituted a Board of Directors for the administration of these Industrial Units. On 03.10.1963, a Private Limited Company under the name of J&K Industries Limited (JKI) was incorporated under the Companies Act 1956, primarily with the object to run, manage and administer such Industrial undertakings, as may be notified by the Governor in the manner as would ensure their economic working. Subsequently, pursuant to instructions issued by the Governor on 08.10.1963, some Industrial undertakings of the State government were notified to be industrial units of JKI and some of the employees who were working in these industrial units of the Department of Industries of the government also came to be shifted to JKI. While the employees of erstwhile Industrial Units of the Government were performing their duties in the JKI, the JKI, with a view to regulate the service conditions of its employees, promulgated the Jammu and Kashmir Industries Service Regulations. Notwithstanding the framing of Industries Service Regulations, the employees of the erstwhile Industrial Units of the Government continued to avail the benefit of revision of pay scales and DA etc. as were being paid to other government servants of the State. In the year 1979, the State of Jammu and Kashmir set up Rajan Committee to examine the wage structure of Public Sector Undertakings. The Rajan Committee submitted