Reading down of service regulations preserved deputationists' past service for seniority on absorption in the Commission.

Regulation 9(2) of the Andhra Pradesh College Service Commission service regulations was sustained by reading it down, because a statutory provision should be harmoniously construed and preserved where a reasonable, contextually consistent meaning is available. The Court held that the regulation could not be read to exclude the past Government service of deputationists permanently absorbed in the Commission when determining seniority, particularly in light of Regulation 9(1), which preserved their earlier service. Their entire continuous service, including pre-absorption Government service, had to be counted for inter se seniority in the Commission.

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Issues: Whether Regulation 9(2) of the Andhra Pradesh College Service Commission (terms and conditions of service of employees of the Commission) Regulation, 1986 was liable to be struck down, or could be sustained by reading it down so that the past service of deputationists absorbed in the Commission would count towards their seniority.

Analysis: The Commission was empowered under Section 20 of the Andhra Pradesh College Service Commission Act, 1985, read with Section 7(3), to frame regulations governing the terms and conditions of its employees. Regulation 9(1) preserved the service of employees drawn from other departments, while Regulation 9(2), if read literally, appeared to suggest that seniority on absorption would be fixed only by reference to service under the Commission. The Court applied the settled principle that a statutory provision must, if reasonably possible, be harmoniously construed and sustained rather than invalidated, and that reading down is permissible to remove ambiguity but not to rewrite the provision. Since the deputationists were to be permanently absorbed only after exercising option, the question of their inter se seniority had to be determined in a manner consistent with the preservation of past service already recognised in Regulation 9(1).

Conclusion: Regulation 9(2) was upheld by reading it down, and the deputationists' entire continuous service, including service rendered in the Government before absorption, had to be taken into account for determining inter se seniority in the Commission.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory or regulatory provision should be read down and sustained where its language is capable of a constitutionally and contextually consistent construction, and where seniority of absorbed deputationists is concerned, pre-existing continuous service cannot be excluded unless the rule expressly and validly so provides.

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