In Brief
This case involved competing pension schemes and dearness relief entitlements for retired employees of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). The LIC Board passed a resolution in 2001 proposing to upgrade basic pensions for employees who retired before August 1997, but implementation stalled due to disputes about whether Central Government approval was required. The Supreme Court held that Board resolutions cannot confer pension benefits without being formally framed as rules under the LIC Act and notified in the Official Gazette. The Court remanded the matter to the High Court of Delhi to examine the constitutional validity of the pension structure and decide whether the cut-off date classifications violated Article 14 (equality). Meanwhile, the Court directed LIC to pay 40% interim relief within six weeks pending final adjudication.
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