JUDGMENT :

G.B. Patnaik, J. - The petitioner who was an employee under the Orissa State Electricity Board assails the order of superannuation on attaining 58th year, annexed as Annexure-5. The main grounds on which the petitioner assails the superannuation are:-

(i) The Standing Orders having provided for conditions of service of an employee of the Board and not having provided for the age of superannuation, the petitioner could not have been retired on attainment of 58th year on the basis of the Regulations framed u/s 79(c) of the Electricity (Supply) Act, called the Orissa State Electricity Board Employees' Age of Retirement Regulations, 1979 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Retirement Regulations');

(ii) The said Regulations not having been published in the Official Gazelle has no force in the eye of law;

(iii) Under the Regulations, only employees described in Categories I, II and III of the Schedule are to superannuate on completion of 58 years and those in Category IV are to retire on completion of 60 years. Since Cable Jointer or Senior Cable Jointer does not come within any of the categories, the Regulations in question will have no application to the petitioner's case.

(iv) At