INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY AND ORS. vs DR. T.R SRINIVASAN AND ORS

Judgment text excerpt

$~ * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Reserved on: 12 March 2025 Pronounced on: 6 October 2025 + LPA 118/2024 & CM APPL. 8491/2024, CM APPL. 24020/2024, CM APPL. 47596/2024 INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY AND ORS. .....Appellants Through: Mr. Sudhir Nandrajog, Sr. Adv. with Mr. Aly Mirza and Ms. Ankita Singh, Advs. for IGNOU versus DR. T.R SRINIVASAN AND ORS .....Respondents Through: Mr. Ujjwal Kumar, Ms. Rakhi Kaushik, Mr. Dharmendra and Mr. Abhinav Kumar Shrivastava, Advs. for R-2. Dr. S. Gopakumaran Nair, Sr. Adv. with Ms. Priya Balakrishnan, Advs for R-1, 3 & 4 Ms. Monika Arora, CGSC with Mr. Subrodeep Saha and Mr. Prabhat Kumar, Advs. For R-5/UOI CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C. HARI SHANKAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAY DIGPAUL % JUDGMENT 06.10.2025 C. HARI SHANKAR, J. 1. The appellants in the present Letters Patent Appeal are the Indira Gandhi National Open University1, its Vice Chancellor2 and its Academic Coordination Division. The appeal is directed against 1 “IGNOU” hereinafter 2 “VC” hereinafter Signature Not Verified LPA 118/2024 Digitally Signed By:AJIT Page 1 of 70 KUMAR Signing Date:06.10.2025 11:25:33 judgment dated 12 December 2023 passed by a learned Single Judge of this Court in WP (C) 3266/2012. In the writ petition, Respondents 1 to 43 in the present appeal were the petitioners. 2. Respondent 5 Union of India, through the Ministry of Education4 (earlier the Ministry of Human Resource Development5) in the present appeal, was impleaded as additional party respondent in the writ petition by order dated 31 May 2012. 3. Our view 3.1 The respondents seek a declaration that they were entitled to superannuate at 65, rather than 62, and that they were entitled to the benefit of the Career Advancement Scheme. Both these dispensations are, admittedly, a