Service regulations incorporating government rules extend to later amendments unless formally excluded by amendment.

U.P. Jal Nigam employees were entitled to the enhanced retirement age of 60 years because their service conditions, under Section 37 and Regulation 31, remained governed by the rules, regulations and orders applicable to State Government servants. The SC held that this incorporation covered subsequent amendments to those governing rules, so the State Government's revised superannuation age applied unless the Nigam formally amended its service regulations to exclude it. A mere administrative decision or direction could not override the regulations.

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Issues: Whether the employees of the U.P. Jal Nigam were entitled to continue in service up to the enhanced age of superannuation of 60 years after the State Government amended the general retirement rule for Government servants.

Analysis: Section 37 of the Uttar Pradesh Water Supply and Sewerage Act, 1975 preserved the existing service conditions of employees transferred to the Nigam until those conditions were lawfully altered by the Nigam. Section 97 empowered the Nigam, with previous approval of the State Government, to frame regulations governing service conditions, and Regulation 31 of the 1978 Regulations made the service conditions of Nigam employees governed by the rules, regulations and orders applicable to serving Government servants in the State. The expression was held to include subsequent amendments to those governing rules. As the service regulations were not amended to exclude the revised superannuation age, a mere administrative decision or direction could not override the regulation.

Conclusion: The enhanced retirement age of 60 years applied to the Nigam employees, and the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where service regulations adopt the rules and orders applicable to Government servants, later amendments to those rules apply unless the regulations are formally amended to exclude them.

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