Subordinate legislation and repeal: service regulations ceased after repeal because the saving clause protected employee rights, not the rules themselves.

Service regulations made under the repealed Air Corporations Act, 1953 did not continue in force after repeal unless expressly preserved by the repealing statute. Section 8 of the Air Corporations (Transfer of Undertakings and Repeal) Act, 1994 saved the remuneration, terms and conditions, rights and privileges of employees in service on the appointed day, but it did not save the subordinate service regulations themselves. That limited saving protected existing employees only and did not preserve the regulations for later entrants. The service regulations therefore ceased to be effective from 29 January 1994, and the challenge based on the Standing Orders Act failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether service regulations framed under the repealed Air Corporations Act, 1953 survived the repeal by the Air Corporations (Transfer of Undertakings and Repeal) Act, 1994, and whether the Standing Orders Act could therefore be invoked against Air India.

Analysis: Regulations made under a parent statute ordinarily cease to operate when that statute is repealed unless the repealing enactment expressly preserves them. The saving provision in Section 8 of the 1994 Act protected, in express terms, the remuneration, terms and conditions, rights and privileges of employees in service on the appointed day, but it did not mention or save the service regulations themselves. The saving was limited to protecting existing employees and did not extend the life of the subordinate legislation for employees who joined later.

Conclusion: The service regulations did not survive the repeal of the parent Act and ceased to be effective from 29 January 1994; the foundation of Air India's objection failed and the appeal was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: Subordinate legislation does not survive the repeal of its parent statute unless the repealing statute expressly saves it, and a limited saving of employee rights does not by itself preserve the regulations.

---