ORDER :

1. Since all the present Writ Petitions raise common issues and grounds, they are taken up together for final disposal as under.

2. There are two categories of the Writ Petitions pertaining to the employees from "Exempted Establishments" under Section 17 of The Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (hereinafter, referred to as the Act) and Un-exempted Establishments, which are governed by the provisions of the Act.

3. The employees of both the above mentioned establishments are aggrieved by the denial of pension on the basis of their actual salaries received by them since the payment of pension was restricted to ceiling of salary as provided under the provisions of the Act and the Scheme framed therein. The dispute has its genesis, wherein, the Employees' Pension Scheme was introduced in 1995 in furtherance of Section 6A of the Act, which reads as under:

"6-A. Employees' Pension Scheme - (1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, frame a scheme to be called the Employees' Pension Scheme for the purpose of providing