Compulsory premature retirement must rest on public interest and relevant material, or it becomes an abuse of power and unlawful.

The Supreme Court of India stated that compulsory premature retirement under Rule 56(j)(i) is an administrative power that must be exercised only for public interest and on relevant material. An order is unlawful if it rests on non-existent facts, omits relevant considerations, or is based on collateral purposes, because such use of power amounts to abuse of discretion and defeats the statutory purpose. On the facts, no material supported the retirement order and the Government could not justify it, so the impugned order was held illegal and liable to be quashed with costs.

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Issues: Whether the order prematurely retiring the appellant from service under Rule 56(j)(i) of the Fundamental Rules was vitiated for want of public-interest justification and abuse of power.

Analysis: The power of compulsory premature retirement under Rule 56(j)(i) is an absolute administrative power, but it must be exercised only for the public interest and on relevant material. If the authority bases its decision on reasons of fact that do not exist, omits relevant material, or acts on collateral considerations, the order is infected by abuse of power and cannot stand. Here, the record disclosed no material supporting the retirement order, and the Government itself was unable to justify it. The challenge therefore succeeded on the ground that the impugned order was not a bona fide exercise of the statutory power for the purpose for which it was conferred.

Conclusion: The premature retirement order was illegal and liable to be set aside.

Final Conclusion: The appellant succeeded and the impugned order of premature retirement was quashed, with costs.

Ratio Decidendi: A discretionary power conferred for public interest must be exercised on relevant considerations and for the statutory purpose alone; an order based on non-existent facts, irrelevant material, or collateral purpose is an abuse of power and is liable to be struck down.

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