The court affirmed that dearness allowance for pensioners is a statutory right under Rule 20A and cannot be altered by administrative orders, emphasizing the finality of judicial decisions.

JUDGMENT :

(Judgment of the Court was made by M.S.RAMESH, J.)

PRAYER: Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of Letters Patent, praying to allow the Writ Appeal and set aside the order dated 02.03.2023 in W.P. (MD).No.3441 of 2020 insofar as against the appellant.

The present Writ Appeal has been filed against the final order passed in W.P.(MD).No.3441 of 2020 dated 02.03.2023, which Writ Petition was part of a batch of Writ Petitions, which were disposed of by the writ Court on 02.03.2023.

2. Among the said batch, W.P.(MD).No.1147 of 2020 was also filed and as against the final order passed therein, an appeal in W.A.(MD).No.246 of 2024 was filed before a coordinate Bench of this Court, which was dismissed on 10.09.2024. The said judgment reads as follows:

''The Writ Appeal arises out of the order of the learned Single Judge, dated 02.03.2023, made in W.P(MD)No.1147 of 2020. The State of Tamil Nadu represented by the Principal Secretary to Government, Transport Department and the Principal Secretary to Government, Finance Department, where the first and second respondents in the writ petition and therefore, feeling aggrieved by the order, have filed the present Writ Appeal in W.A(MD)No.246 of 2024. The TNSTC Employees' Pension Trust Administrator, the Managing Director of the State Express Transport Corporation and the State Transport Corporation, Coimbatore Limited, respondents 3 to 5 had also filed Writ Appeal (MD)No.1240 of 2023. The same was heard and by a Judgment of this Court, dated 13.09.2023, the writ appeal was dismissed and the order of the learned Single Judge was confirmed. As against the same, the said appellants preferred an appeal to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India by way of Special Leave Petition (c) No.27785 of 2023 and by an order dated 06.02.2024, the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India dismissed the same. After that, the self-same respondents 3 to 5 in the writ petition, have filed the above Review Application (MD)No.36 of 2024 seeking to review the order of this Court in W.A(MD)No. 1240 of 2023, dated 13.09.2023. As such, both matters are heard together and disposed of by this common judgment.

2. Heard Mr.P.S. Raman, learned Advocate General appearing on behalf of the appellants and the Review Applicants and Mr.Ajmalkhan, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents 1 and 2/employees association in the review petition.

3. Mr.P.S.Raman, the learned Advocate General would contend that given the financial position prevalent in the Transport Corporation, the Government of Tamil Nadu would have to bear the additional financial burden and therefore, apart from the Administrator of the pension fund and the Transport Corporations, the State Government is also the aggrieved party against the order of the learned Single Judge. When the State Government has also filed an appeal and the same was pending at the SR stage, the same should have been brought to the notice of this Court, so that both appeals could have been taken up together and disposed of by this Bench. In any event, he would submit that the grounds raised in the review application as well as the writ appeal would overlap and therefore, he made common arguments in both the matters.

4. He would submit that the factual scenario was not placed before this Court when this Court decided the earlier writ appeal. By relying on the various correspondences made, he would contend that it is demonstrable that always it is the Government which had the right to fix and grant the dearness allowance. He would place reliance on Letter No.7095/D/2008-1, dated 16.07.2008, where initially, the matter concerning fixation of dearness allowance to the pensioners in the officer's cadre was directed by the Government after placing the matter before the Boards of the Corporations. On 13.08.2014, by a communication of the Principal Secretary to Government to the Administrator in Letter No. 19040/E/2013-4, the Government carefully examined the representation and ordered that the