WP(C) 788/2008 BEFORE HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI Heard Mr.I.Choudhury, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr.S.N.Sarma, learned Sr. Counsel appearing for the Respondent Nos. 3,4 and 5, Mr.D.Saikia, learned Co unsel appearing for Respondent No.2 and Mr.B.J.Ghosh, learned counsel appearing for the Respondent No.1. As agreed to and in view of the subject matter involved, final orders in the writ petition are being passed at the motion stage. By Office Memorandum dated 25.1.2005 the age of superannuation of the St ate Govt. employees was raised from 58 to 59 years making the said decision appl icable to all such employees who were due to retire after 1.1.2005. Following th e aforesaid decision of the State Government, the Assam Apex Weavers & Artisans Cooperative Federation Limited (ARTFED), a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, by a Board resolution adopted the aforesaid decision of the State Government raising the re tirement age of its employees from 58 years to 59 years. The said decision was m ade applicable to all employees who were due to retire after 1.1.2005. Subsequently, by another Office Memo. Dated 20.11.2007 the retire ment age of State Govt. employees was further enhanced from 59 to 60 years and the said decision was made applicable to all Govt. employees who were due to go on retirement on 30.11.2007 and thereafter. The petitioner, an employee of the ARTFED, was due for his superan nuation at the age of 59 years on 29.2.2008. He ,therefore, would be entitled to the benefit of service upto 60 years in the event the AFTFED decides to adopt the Govt. decision raising the retirement age upto 60 years and to make the said decision applicable to its employees whose date of superannuation was due on 30.11.2007 and thereafter. The only stumbling block is that the decision of the ARTFED in this regard has not been forthcoming. In these circumstances, this wr it petition has been filed seeking appropriate orders of the Court for the pet itioner’s continuance in service after 29.2.2008. For reasons which are obvious and, therefore, need not be stated herein, the Court was not inclined to pass any interim order in favour of the petitione r. However, having regard to the subject matter involved, the ARTFED was require d by the Court to place its stand in the matter. The stand now available is to the effect that the Managing Director of the AFTFED has referred the question to the Board which is the competent Body to take a decision in the matter. In terms of the aforesaid reference made by th e Managing Director, the Board will be required to decide as to whether the de cision of the State Govt. raising the retirement age to 60 years should be adop ted by the ARTFED for its employees and if so, the date of retirement of the emp loyee/employees for the purpose of receiving the above benefit. In the past when the State Government had raised the retirement age from 58 to 59 years, the ARTFED had followed the s aid decision and maintained the same date of retirement for its employees, as me ntioned in the relevant Office Memorandum for the purpose of identifying the emp loyees who are to get the benefit of the extended period of service. Naturally, the decision that the Board would now be required to take would be a policy dec ision which would be contingent on several factors. No mandamus, therefore, shou ld be issued by the Court directing the Board of ARTFED to act in any particular manner. However, since the matter is pending before the Board and the petitio ner may get the benefit of further service if the Board adopts the Govt. decisi on raising the retirement age from 59 years to 60 years, the Court would be jus tified in requiring the Board to take its decision in the matter as expeditiou sly as possible and in any case within the month of March,2008. Thereafter, depe nding on such decision as may be taken by the Board of the AFTFED further conseq uential action in the case of the petitioner may be taken immediately following the said decision of the Board. The writ petition shall stand disposed of in terms of the aforesaid dire ctions and observations.