JUDGMENT :

Dr Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, J.

1. Delay condoned.

2. Leave to appeal is granted.

3. This batch of appeals arises from proceedings initiated before the Armed Forces Tribunal[The Tribunal]. Each of the four officers of the Indian Air Force-Wing Commanders Subrata Das, P.K. Sen, Rachit Bhatnagar and Group Captain Rajeev Moitra sought a premature separation from service under the Human Resource Policy[The Human Resource Policy, Air HQ/988321/1/PO-5] notified on 5 August 2011 by the Air Headquarters. Their requests for a Premature Separation from Service[PSS] were allowed. Before the date stipulated for their separation from the Indian Air Force["IAF"], the officers withdrew their requests and sought to continue in service. The rejection of their plea to continue by the Air Headquarters led them to institute proceedings before the Tribunal.

4 The officers succeeded before the Tribunal in three of those proceedings[O.A. No. 425 of 2013, O.A. No. 467 of 2013 and O.A. No. 134 of 2015], while the decision of the Air Headquarters was upheld in the fourth proceeding[O.A. No. 1265 of 2017]. The Union of India is in appeal against the three decisions of the Tribunal allowing the request