M URAHARI S RI R AMAN , J.— T HE CHALLENGE :

Questioning the legality and tenability of Judgment dated 25th January, 2023 of the learned Single Judge in W.P.(C) No. 2317 of 2018, the appellants (opposite parties in the writ petition) filed this intra-Court appeal invoking provisions of Article 4 of the Odisha High Court Order, 1948 read with Clause 10 of the Letters Patent constituting the High Court of Judicature at Patna and Rule 6 of Chapter-III of the Rules of the High Court of Odisha, 1948.

1.1. The appellants are aggrieved by the Judgment of the learned Single Judge allowing the respondent No.1-

petitioner before the writ Court to be granted similar treatment of changing option to avail benefit of pension under the Pension-cum-Gratuity Scheme instead of CPF-

cum-Gratuity Scheme, as such benefit was allowed to five employees named in the Additional Affidavit filed by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology on the principle of parity.

T HE PLEADINGS :

2. The case of the appellants as adumbrated in the writ appeal reveals that Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology, Sarang (for brevity, “IGIT”) previously known as Orissa College of Engineering, a premier institute in the State of Odisha offering engineering courses at the under-graduate level and post-graduate level, being equipped with highly qualified faculties and state of the art laboratories, imparts technical education with courses and curriculum approved by All India Council for Technical Education, IE and Indian Society for Technical Education and has National Board of Accreditation (AICTE) accreditation. Though initially the IGIT was managed directly by the Government of Odisha, it is managed by the IGIT Society, an autonomous body, since 1987.

2.1. The Respondent No.1 was appointed a Lecturer in Chemistry by the Director of Technical Education and Training Odisha dated 28.01.1983 as a Lecturer in Chemistry in the said college. All employees (teaching and non-teaching staff) working in the Orissa College of Engineering, subsequently converted to IGIT, came under the control of the society. The Petitioner, working as a Lecturer in Chemistry on ad hoc basis, was offered regular appointment on dated 07.07.1987 as a Lecturer in Chemistry on temporary basis in the erstwhile Orissa College of Engineering.

2.2. The management of the society in its 27th Meeting took the decision for implementation of CPF/GPF and Pension-cum-Gratuity Rules/Scheme for the employees of IGIT with effect from 01.04.1996. Though said Scheme was approved by the Government in its communication dated 11.01.2000, the State Government declined to bear any additional financial liability due to introduction of the Scheme over and above the normal Grant-in-Aid that would have been paid to the IGIT, had the CPF Scheme continued.

2.3. By issue of Circular dated 29.01.2000 all the regular employees of the IGIT were informed to exercise option for accepting either CPF-cum-Gratuity or Pension-cum-

Gratuity in the prescribed form within a period of six months from the date of circulation. Accordingly, the respondent No.1 submitted his option for CPF-cum-

Gratuity Scheme in his application dated 29.08.2000.

The said option was stated to have been accepted by the management and such fact has been recorded in the service book on 20.02.2001.

2.4. After exercising the option for CPF-cum-Gratuity, five staff members of the IGIT, namely Jayanta Kumar Ganthia, Sukadeb Sahoo, Pradip Kumar Dash, Sheshadev Bhuyan and Padma Charan Rout, submitted their application to appellant No.1 for changing of option from CPF-cum-Gratuity Scheme to Pension-cum-Gratuity Scheme through proper channel between 05.05.2004 and 18.10.2004.

2.5. Regarding implementation of Pension-cum-Gratuity Scheme, it was resolved in the 40th Meeting of the Board of Governors, IGIT, Sarang held on 30.09.2004 that the existing employees would be allow