IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE TWENTY FIRST DAY OF APRIL TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION NO : 11413 of 2001 Between: 1 V.Koteswara Rao, S/o Venkaiah, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 2 I.L.Narasimham, S/o Late Prakasha Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 3 K.P.Ramakrishna, S/o Late Annaji Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 4 Y.Trivikrama Rao, S/o Narayana Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 5 K.Satya Prasad, S/o Sambasiva Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 6 P.M.Sairaj, S/o Maruti Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 7 K.V.Sarma, S/o Subbaiah, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 8 V.Koteswara Rao, S/o Narayana, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 9 P.V.Krishna Rao, S/o Seetharamaiah, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 10 Vasa Srinivasa Rao, S/o V.V. Ramana Murthy, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 11 M.Satyanarayana Murthy, S/o Late Veera Raju, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 12 Mohd.Abdul Hakeem, S/o Mohd. Khaja Miya, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 13 B.Bhaskar Datt, S/o B.H.R. Somayajulu, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 14 R.Ramesh, S/o R.Rajagopal Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 15 Jupudi Hanumantha Rao, S/o Late Viswanadha Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 16 T.Kameswara Rao, S/o Trinadha Rao,, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 17 K.R.V.Sagar, S/o K.Suryaprakasha Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 18 K.Nageswar, S/o K.Mallesh, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 19 G.Siva Kumar, S/o Late G.Srisaila, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 20 V.Bhaskar Rama Murthy, S/o Late Kameswara Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 21 C.Vinod Kumar, S/o Seethapathi Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 22 A.D.V.Prasad, S/o Lakshmana Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 23 M.A.Wahab, S/o Late Yousuf Saheb, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 24 N.M.Prasad, S/o Sri Ramulu, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 25 V.S.Narayana Babu, S/o Krishna Murthy, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 26 T.H.Shyamsundar, S/o T.R.Harisekhar, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 27 V.Balakistaiah, S/o Lakshminarayana, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 28 M.S.N.Murthy, S/o M.K.Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 29 M.Ashok Kumar, S/o Hanumanth Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 30 S.A.Hafeez, S/o S.A.Hai, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 31 V.Bhavanishankar, S/o Venkataraman, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 32 P.Jayachandra Reddy, S/o Late Kesava Reddy, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 33 Shaukat Hussain, S/o Syed Hussain, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 34 A.Vidyasagar, S/o Late Krishnamacharyulu, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 35 R.Narsimha Reddy, S/o Govardhan Reddy, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 36 V.V.S.S.R.Murthy, S/o Late Appalanarasimha Rao, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 37 C.Balachandra Reddy, S/o Venugopal Reddy, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 38 M.Pradeep Kumar Reddy, S/o Gopal Reddy, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 39 R.Surender, S/o Babaiah, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 40 G.V.Rao, S/o G.B.N.Suryanarayana, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 41 M.Somasekher Reddy, S/o M.Sivashankar Reddy, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 42 C.V.Balaji Ramanatham, S/o Seshasailu, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 43 M.Ratnam, S/o M.Panchamaiah, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 44 B.R.Abraham, S/o Rajaratnam, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 45 S.Nagabhushanam, S/o Late Mallaiah, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 46 V.Srinivas Murthy, S/o V.Lakshminarayana, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 47 Smt.N.Ratnavali, W/o Hari Murthy, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 48 K.Suryanarayana Reddy, S/o Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 49 V.Raghava Reddy, S/o Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. 50 M.V.Subba Rao, S/o M.Lingaiah, Balaji Colony, Mohan Nagar, Kothapeta, R.R.District. ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 Andhra Bank, Rep. by its Chairman and Managing Director, Saifabad, Hyderabad. 2 General Manager (HRD) Andhra Bank, Head Office, Saifabad, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ declaring that the action of the respondents contained in Circular No.316 dated 5.1.2001 purporting to disallow the 5 years notional service to the action service for fixation of pensionary benefits to the optees of voluntary retirement under Andhra Bank (Employees) Voluntary Retirement Scheme 2000 is arbitrary and irrational and direct the respondents to fix the pension of the petitioners in terms of Regulation 29 (5) of Andhra Bank (Employees) Pension Regulations 1995 duly giving 5 years service weightage to the actual service rendered by the employees and allow all consequential benefits and grant such other relief as it deems fit in the circumstances of the case. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.V.VENKATARAMANA Counsel for the Respondent No.: DR.K.LAKSHMI NARASIMHA The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION No : 11413 of 2001 ORDER: This writ petition is filed seeking declaration that the action of the respondents in disallowing five years notional service to the actual service for fixation of pensionary benefits to the optees of Voluntary Retirement Scheme 2000 as arbitrary and illegal and for a consequential direction to the respondents to fix the pension of the petitioners in terms of Regulation 29 (5) of the Andhra Bank (Employees) Pension Regulations 1995. When the matter is taken up for consideration, it is brought to my notice that during the pendency of this writ petition, some of the employees of other banks, filed writ petitions and ultimately, the matter went to the Supreme Court of India by Civil Appeal No.1942 of 2009 and batch. The appeals were disposed of by the Supreme Court by judgment dated 27.3.2009 holding that the employees are entitled in terms of Regulation 29 (5) of the Pension Regulations and directing the respective banks to recalculate the pension payable to the concerned employees by giving them the benefit of Regulation 29 (5). It is represented by the learned counsel appearing for both the petitioners and the respondents that the petitioners herein are also similarly situated and therefore, the writ petition can be disposed of in terms of the directions of the Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No.1942 of 2009 and batch. Accordingly, the wit petition is disposed of holding that the petitioners are entitled to the benefit of Regulation 29 (5) of the Andhra Bank (Employees) of the Pension Regulations 1995. Consequently, there shall be a direction to the respondents to recalculate the pension payable to the petitioners herein by giving them the benefit of Regulation 29 (5) as expeditiously as possible, preferably, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. _______________ Justice G.Rohini Date:21.04.2009 mrb