The court upheld the applicability of the amended pension rules to government servants appointed after 01.04.2003, rejecting contentions based on promissory estoppel and the original intention of the government.

V. Ramasubramanian, J.

1. By G.O. Ms. No. 259, Finance (Pension) Department, dated 06.08.2003, the Government of Tamil Nadu amended the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules, 1978 with effect from 01.04.2003. By the said amendment, a proviso was inserted under Rule 2. As per the said proviso, the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules were made inapplicable to Government Servants appointed on or after the 1st April, 2003 to the services and posts in connection with the affairs of the State, which are borne on pensionable establishments. In other words, persons appointed to all types of services in the State of Tamil Nadu on or after 01.04.2003 became ineligible for the grant of pension under the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules.

2. Two persons appointed as Assistant Public Prosecutors, one person appointed as a Junior Assistant in the Revenue Department and a few persons appointed as Assistant Medical Officers (Siddha), made a claim before the competent authorities of their departments that the amendment cannot be applied to them. This claim was on the ground that all of them were recruited to various services before 01.04.2003, the date of coming into force of the amendment, though they joined duty in the respective posts after 01.04.2003. But, their claims were rejected by the competent authorities.

3. Therefore, one Assistant Public Prosecutor filed a writ petition in W.P. (MD) No. 7628 of 2005. The writ petition was dismissed by a learned Judge, by an order dated 22.11.2010. Aggrieved by the said order, he came up with an appeal in W.A. (MD) No. 217 of 2011.

4. In the meantime, the Junior Assistant mentioned above had come up with a writ petition in W.P. (MD) No. 8732 of 2007. Similarly, the Assistant Medical Officers had come up with three writ petitions in W.P. (MD) Nos. 6184 of 2010, 11765 of 2012 and 4516 of 2013. One more Assistant Public Prosecutor had come up with W.P. (MD) No. 2345 of 2007. The writ petitions filed by the Junior Assistant, Assistant Medical Officers and the other Assistant Public Prosecutor were directed to be tagged along with the writ appeal, since a common question was involved in all the cases. Accordingly, they were tagged together.

5. We have heard M/s. Mr. C. Dhanaseelam, R. Rengaramanujam, R. Lakshmanan and G. Thalaimutharasu, learned counsel appearing for the writ appellant and writ petitioners, Mr. A.K. Baskara Pandian, learned Special Government Pleader, appearing for the official respondents and Mr. P. Gunasekaran, learned Standing Counsel for the Accountant General (Tamil Nadu).

6. While taking pride in the fact that the average life of an Indian got enhanced to around 67 by the second millennium, the Central as well as the State Governments also appear to have become concerned about the financial implications that the increased life span of Government servants created. Therefore, the Government of India constituted a Committee to go into the question of reforms with respect to the pension scheme that was in vogue. Following the same, the Government Tamil Nadu also announced in the Budget Session of 2003-2004 that a new pension scheme would be introduced for those who are recruited on or after 01.04.2003. As per the new scheme, each employee had to contribute certain amount and Government was to contribute an amount.

7. In order to give effect to the new scheme, the Government also issued necessary amendment to the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules, 1978, under G.O. Ms. No. 259, Finance (Pension) Department, dated 06.08.2003. However, the amended rule was given effect from 01.04.2003. As per the said amendment, a proviso was inserted under Rule 1(2) of the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules, 1978. The proviso reads as follows:

"Provided that these rules shall not apply to Government servants appointed on or after the 1st April 2003, to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the State which are borne on pensionable establishments, whether temporary or permanent".

8. The appellant in the writ appeal and the petitio