P.K. Misra, J.

1. In all these writ petitions, the question regarding availability of medical facilities to the retired employees of the Central Government, either under the Central Services (Medical Attendance) Rules, 1944 (hereinafter referred to as "the CS (MA) Rules) or the Central Government Health Scheme (hereinafter referred to as "the CGHS) and issuance of Central Government Health Scheme Card for availing such facilities, is the core issue. The various Original Applications were filed by different retired employees of the Central Government claiming reimbursement of medical expenses/benefit of medical facilities. For convenience, the Central Administrative Tribunal, which decided various applications in favour of the retired employees, is referred to hereinafter as “the Tribunal” and the retired employees, who were applicants before the Tribunal, are referred to as "the applicant".

2. The basic facts and the basic questions involved in all these writ petitions are similar. The main orders of the Tribunal, on the basis of which subsequent orders have been passed are essentially contained in O.A.No.194 of 2001 and O.A.No.619 of 2002, which had been filed by the r