Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition (Civil) No. 590 of (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India) B.B. Sawhney for the Petitioners.

G.B. Pai, O.C. Mathur, Ms. Meera Mathur, Ms. Deepa Chhabra and N. Misra for the Respondents.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RANGANATH MISRA, J. Under the Burmah Shell (Acquisition of Undertakings in India) Act 2 of 1976, (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act'), the Union of India acquired the right, title and interest of Burmah Shell oil Storage and Distributing Company of India Limited (hereinafter referred to as Burmah Shell) in relation to its undertakings in India. Sections 3, 4, and 9 of the Act are relevant. Under section 3 the right, title and interest of Burmah Shell in relation to its undertakings in India stood transferred and became vested in the Central Government. In terms of section 4, the assets and liabilities were taken over by the Government of India. Under section 9 persons employed under Burmah Shell came under the employment of the Government company known as Bharat Petrolium Corporation A Limited (respondent No. I herein) Section 1()(1) provides thus:

"Where a provident, superannuation, welfare or other fund has been established by Burmah Shell for the benefit of the persons employed by it in connection with its undertakings in India, the monies relatable to the employees-
(i) whose services are transferred by or under this Act to the Central Government or the Government company; or
(ii) who are in receipt of pension or other pensionary benefits immediately before the appointed day, shall, out of the monies standing on that day to the credit of such provident, superranuation, welfare or other fund stand transferred to and vested in, the Central Government or the Government company, as the case may be, free from any trust that may have been constituted by Burmah Shell in respect thereof."

The detailed provisions for administration of the fund are contained in that section.

This petition under Article 32 of the Constitution is by the erstwhile Burmah Shell Management Staff Pensioners who claim two reliefs:

(1) Extension of the benefit of restoration of commuted pension after the period of 15 years from the date of commutation as decided by this Court in the case of Common Cause & Ors. v. Union of lndia & Ors., AIR 1987 SC 210 and (2) Adequate escalation in the pension keeping in view the loss of purchasing power of the rupee and the general rise in the cost of living.

The writ petition is, therefore, confined to the only question as to the escalation of pension. Burmah Shell has a fund known as Burmah Shell India Pension Fund and it has its own rules. When Government nationalised the Petroleum industry, another company known as Caltex India Ltd. was also acquired and came to be known as Hindustan Petroleum Corporation. It is thus a sister concern owned by the Central Government. Petitioners relied upon the increase in the pension granted by the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation to its employees in support of their claim for the increase in the pension. While Burmah Shell had a pension fund which has been taken over by the Government company, Caltex did not have such a fund The allegation made by the petitioners that the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Where there is no such fund has granted a steep escalation in the pension has not been disputed before us. Admittedly Burmah Shell is a bigger company than Hindustan Petroleum Corporation. We have been told that the total Burmah Shell management staff presently in the employment of the respondent No. 1 would be around a thousand. Nothing acceptable has been placed before us from where support can be received for the argument of Mr. Pai, learned counsel for respondent No. 1, that if the escalation admitted by Messrs Hindustan Petroleum Corporation is accepted as the basis for escalation in Burmah Shell there would be injustice or a burden would arise which the respondent-Company cannot discharge. The respondent-Company has an obligation to pay from its earnings into the Fund and merely because the existing fund is not adequate to bear the additional liability the claim which is otherwise justified cannot be rejected. As we have already pointed out, the Company's current funds are available to supplement the pension fund.