Protected service conditions prevent a corporation from reducing transferred employees' superannuation age against an express government assurance.

Transferred employees protected by an express assurance that their service conditions would not be adversely affected cannot be subjected to a lower retirement age by later Corporation regulations. The Government notification preserving existing service terms bound the Corporation, and directions issued under the Road Transport Corporation Act, 1950, had to be given effect. Subordinate regulations could not override that statutory protection or reduce the superannuation age from 60 years to 58 years to the employee's detriment. The employee was therefore entitled to retire at 60 years, and the attempted retirement at 58 years was unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether employees whose service was taken over by the State and later transferred to the Corporation could be subjected to a reduced age of superannuation under Government service rules or Corporation regulations despite an express assurance that their conditions of service would not be adversely affected.

Analysis: The employee had entered service under the company where the age of superannuation was 60 years. On takeover, the Government notification expressly protected the existing staff from adverse alteration of service conditions. The directions issued by the State Government under the Road Transport Corporation Act, 1950, were binding on the Corporation, and they specifically preserved the assurances given to the transferred staff. The Corporation could not override that statutory assurance by framing regulations fixing a lower retirement age. Regulations subordinate to the Act and the Government directions could not be applied to the employee so as to his detriment.

Conclusion: The employee remained entitled to retire at the age of 60 years, and the Corporation's action retiring him at 58 years was not sustainable.

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