JUDGMENT :

Heard the parties.

2. Since the identical issues are involved in all these writ petitions, they are being heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment.

3. Petitioners have approached this Hon’ble Court with a common prayer for issuance of appropriate direction upon the Respondents, especially Respondent No. 2 for grant of pensionary benefits under Rule 29 of the National Institute of Technology Act, 2007.

4. The facts of the case in short is that the present petitioners are either retired employees or legal heirs of the retired employees of NIT, Jamshedpur, who have retired prior to 01.04.1992. It is the case of the petitioners that the Regional Institute of Technology (RIT) was established by the then State Government of Bihar in the year 1960, wherein the expenses of the Institute were equally divided between the State and the Union. Thereafter all Regional Institutes of Technology were converted into National Institute of Technology wherein the complete expenses, fixed as well as recurring were payable by the Union of India. The National Institute of Technology was formed as a result of the ‘First Statute of National Institutes of Technology, 2007’. The said enactment was applicable to all the National Institute of Technology across the country. Rule 29 of the ‘First Statute of National Institutes of Technology, 2007’ reads as under:

“Rule 29: Provident Funds and Pension Scheme : Employees of the Institute appointed prior to 1.1.2004 will be governed by Central Civil Service (Pension) Rules, 1972 and Central Provident Fund (Central Services) Rules, 1960 and the employees appointed on or after 1.1.2004 will be governed by New Pension Scheme of Central Government.”

5. It is the further case of the petitioners that even though the act provides that pensionary benefits shall be given to retired employees but the same was denied by the respondent-authorities in a most arbitrary manner and as such, few similarly situated employees approached the respective Hon’ble High Court within the territorial jurisdiction vis-à-vis the NIT was situated. The writ petitions bearing numbered as CWP No. 12522 of 2005, CWP No.3969 of 2005 and 4262 of 2006 were preferred before the Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court, by the employees of National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra (Earlier known as Regional Engineering College, Kurukshetra) wherein it was prayed that according to Rule 29 of the National Institute of Technology, 2007 also known as ‘the First statute of National Institutes of technology’ pensionary benefits under the Central Civil Servants (Pension) Scheme, 1972 should be afforded to the employees appointed before 1.1.2004 and the Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court was pleased to allow all the writ petitions vide its judgment dated 26.03.2012 and directed the National Institute of Technology (for short NIT), Kurukshetra to publish a circular and give effect to the same. In compliance to the judgment of the Hon’ble Court, NIT Kurukshetra issued a public notice inviting the attention of the employees/ex-employees by giving them an option to avail benefits under the Central Civil Service (Pension Rules), 1972. Subsequently, respondent No. 1 issued a letter dated 21.02.2013, whereby it was decided to implement the scheme for the employees of NIT Kurukshetra and Silchar and requested the concerned authorities to take steps regarding the same. Though the cases of the present petitioners are similar to the employees, who had preferred writ petitions before the Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court but the same and similar benefits were denied to the present petitioners, even after repeated requests and representations made by them to that effect. It is the specific case of the petitioners that NIT Kurukshetra took a comprehensive steps and even formed a Pension Cell to co-ordinate and provide pensionary benefits to its employees and ex-employees. The implementation of the same was done by NIT Kurukshetra and