ARIJIT BANERJEE, J. - (1.) These ten writ petitions have been taken up for hearing and disposal together as they involve similar questions of facts and law.
(2.) The total number of writ petitioners in the ten writ petitions is 234. They are all ex-employees of Central Inland Water Transport Corporation Ltd. (in short 'CIWTC'). They have either superannuated in the usual course or released under Voluntary Retirement Scheme (in short 'VRS') (Old) or under Improved Voluntary Retirement Scheme (in short 'IVRS') in 2015.
(3.) The petitioners in the following cases are superannuated employees under the Central Dearness Allowance (in short 'CDA') pay pattern:- i) WP No. 7262 (W) of 2017 (Sunil Naskar-Vs.-Union of India and Ors.) ii) WP No. 8354 (W) of 2016 (Matilal Deb and Ors.-vs.-Union of India and Ors.) iii) WP No. 7306 (W) of 2017 (Asok Kumar Mukhopadhyay and Ors.-vs.- Union of India and Ors.) iv) WP No. 16128 (W) of 2017 (Pranab Kumar Das and Ors.-vs.-Union of India and Ors.) ;