CWP No. 2087/2007 with CWP Nos. 2085, 2086, 2088, 2089, 2090, 2091, 2092, 2093, 2094, 2095, 2096, 2097, 2098, 2129, 2130, 2131 and 2132 of 2007 4.1.2010 Present: Mr. Shrawan Dogra, Advocate for the petitioner (in all writ petitions). Mr. B.N. Mehta, Advocate vice Mr. S.R. Sharma, Advocate, for respondent No.1 (in all writ petitions). Mr. P.M. Negi, Deputy Advocate General with Mr. Ramesh Thakur, Assistant Advocate General for respondents No. 2 to 4 (in all writ petitions). Heard and gone through the record. All these petitions are directed against interim orders, whereby operation of order dated 28.5.2007, amending Contributory Pension Scheme, 2003, has been stayed, by the Tribunal in various Original Applications, filed by the pensioners of the petitioner-bank. Contention, which has been raised on behalf of the petitioner-bank, is that the petitioner is not a State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India and as such the Tribunal did not have the jurisdiction to entertain the original applications and consequently, the interim stay orders passed by the Tribunal in these matters are without jurisdiction. Impugned orders of the Tribunal have been in operation for the last 2½ years. Their continuation for a few days is not going to cause any prejudice to the petitioner-bank. Therefore, we feel that the main OAs, which have now come to this Court on transfer, on account of abolition of the State - 2 - Administrative Tribunal, themselves should be disposed of at the earliest in the light of the objection raised by the petitioner that the petitioner is not a State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India. Hence, it is ordered that the Original Applications, now re-registered as CWPs(T), out of which these petitions have arisen, be listed next week for final hearing, as only a very short question of law is involved. We dispose of the present petitions with the aforesaid direction regarding listing of the main matters for final hearing, next week. All the writ petitions are disposed of. Pending CMPs in all the writ petitions also stand disposed of, being infructuous. (Surjit Singh), J January 4, 2010 (ss) (Surinder Singh), J.