ORDER :

The issue involved in all these writ petitions pertains to the entitlement of the petitioners to avail the benefit under the old Pension Scheme that prevailed prior to the implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme that was brought into force vide G.O.No.259 Finance (Pension) Department dated 06.08.2003.

2. The brief facts of the case are as under :

2.1. The petitioners joined as Police Constables (Grade-II) in the selection for the year 2001-2002. This selection was made pursuant to the notification issued by the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board [TNUSRB] on 25.05.2002, where applications were invited to fill up 3500 posts of Police Constable (Grade-II). The total posts was increased to 4931 by virtue of the subsequent notification issued on 05.03.2003.

2.2. It is stated by the petitioners that the recruitment process immediately commenced and the selection for the post of Police Constable (Grade-II) was done in the following manner :

25.5.2002 Notification was published for 3500 posts

05.03.2003 Notification was published for 4931 posts

14.05.2003 Physical Entrance Test was conducted

10.06.2003 Written Examination was conducted

15.08.2003 Results for Written E