In Brief
The Maharashtra State Financial Corporation denied Fifth Pay Commission pay revision benefits to employees who retired between 01.01.2006 and 29.03.2010, restricting them to those in service on 29.03.2010. The Supreme Court held this discriminatory under Article 14. Employees who retired normally and their legal heirs form a homogenous class with those in service and cannot be arbitrarily excluded by a cut-off date. However, those who voluntarily opted for Voluntary Retirement Scheme cannot claim parity as they received ex-gratia golden handshake. The Court partly allowed the appeal, entitling retired employees to arrears from 01.01.2006 with 8% interest from 01.04.2010, payable within eight weeks.
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