Srikrishna, J. - (1.) Leave granted in all the Special Leave Petitions.
(2.) The issue of law to be decided in the present matter is: Whether an establishment can modify pensions (and connected benefits) payable to employees without first changing the Regulations that govern those pensions In other words, can pensions be changed (particularly, when the change is to the detriment of the employees concerned) without recourse to the proper procedure prescribed for changing them 2A. This group of appeals by special leave raises the same issues of facts and law for a decision by this Court. Hence, they can all be dealt with by a common judgment. For the sake of convenience, the facts shall be mentioned from the appeal arising out of Special Leave Petition (Civil) Nos. 3759-3760/04. A Survey of the Facts
(3.) These appeals have been filed by a registered Trade Union, which represents nearly 30,000 employees of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board ("the Board"). Prior to 1-7-57, the State of Tamil Nadu was departmentally carrying on the work of distribution and supply of electric energy. On 1-7-57, the Board was constituted by the State Government under Chapter III of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 ("the 1948 Act"). The employees of the Board consisted of two different classes: (i) Employees who were already employed by the State Government and were taken over into the service of the Board upon its constitution; and (ii) Employees directly recruited by the Board after its constitution. In exercise of its powers under Section 79(c) of the 1948 Act, the Board brought into force a set of regulations styled as the "Tamil Nadu Electricity Board Liberalised Pension Regulations, 1960" ("1960 Regulations") with effect from 1-7-60. These Regulations dealt with the conditions of service specifically pension and death-cum-retirement gratuity. Under Regulation 3 of the 1960 Regulations, the qualifying service for earning pension was a period of thirty years.;