TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1991 (9) TMI 345
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....e Examination of the concerned year. While a substantial number of O.As filed before the Tribunal at Delhi were pending, a similar number of analo- gous O.As filed before the Benches of Administrative Tribunals at Patna, Allahabad, Chandigarh, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, Jodhpur and Eranakulam were transferred to the Tribunal at Delhi since common questions of law arose for determination in all the O.As. The Tribunal rendered its main judgment in O.A.No. 206/89 Alok Kumar v. Union of India & Ors. and 61 other O.As in which the facts appear to be common. The other judgments were passed on the basis of the conclusions arrived in O.A. No. 206/89 and the connected batch of OAs. Since the Tribunal has set out only the facts in the case of Alok Kurnar (O.A. No. 206/89) treating it as a main application and illustrative of the questions raised, we would like to briefly indicate the facts of A1ok kumar's case so that the impelling circumstances which led to the filing of these appeals and the common questions of law involved may be understood in the proper perspective in the light of the judgment of the Tribunal. In this context, it may be noted that though no appeal has been filed against....
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....the CSE 1988 even before he received the offer of appointment dated 2.1.1989. He was then intimated that if he had already joined the Probationary Training along with 1987 batch, he would not be eligible for consideration for appointment on the basis of subsequent CSE conducted by the UPSC. Besides the main reliefs, Alok Kumar had prayed for an interim order to join and complete the current Probationary Training without being compelled to sign the undertaking sought to be obtained from him subject to final orders in the O.A. The Division Bench of the Tribunal issued an interim order, as prayed for by Alok Kumar, allowing him to join the requisite training for the service to which he had been allocated and allowed him to appear in the interview as and when he was called by the UPSC on the basis of 1988 Examination. The respondents filed their reply explaining the circumstances under which the second proviso was introduced to rule 4 of CSE Rules, its scope and ambit and refuted all the intentions raised by Alok Kumar challenging the legality and constitutionality of the impugned proviso. The Tribunal by its detailed and considered judgment has rendered its conclusions thus: "....
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.... authorities. Further, a direction is given to the respondents that all those candidates who have been allocated to any of the Central Services, Group 'A' or I.P.S. and who have appeared in Civil Services Main Examination, 1988 or 1989 under the interim orders of the Tribunal and are within the permissible age limit and have succeeded are to be given benefit of their success subject to the provisions of Rule 17 of the C.S.E. Rules. The O.As are dismissed on all other counts." On the basis of the above directions given in paragraphs 5(ii), 6 and 7, we gave some interim directions on 7.12.1990 which are annexed to this judgment as Annexure `A'. Several learned counsel appeared for the respective parties and advanced their submissions interpreting the rules and cited a plethora of decisions in support of their respective cases. Whilst Mr. P.P. Rao, senior counsel assisted by Mr. C.N. Sreekumar and others, Mr. Gopal Subramaniam, Mrs. C.M. Chopra, Mr. Gopal Singh and Mr. A.M. Khan- wilkar appeared for the appellants in the various batches of cases, the learned Additional Solicitor General, Mr. Kapil Sibal assisted by Ms Kamini Jaiswal and Mr. CVS Rao appeared on behalf....
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....t of the scheme of recruitment to the All lndia Services or/and whether such reasons are arbitrary, unfair and unjust?- (9) Whether the impugned second proviso is suffering from the vice of hostile discrimina- tion and as such violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India. Recruitment to All India and Central Services - Brief History and Present position: Before entering into an extensive investigation and fullfledged discussion on the questions formulated above, we feel that in order to have a more comprehensive study of the development of the civil service in India a brief history of the past system of recruitment to All India and Central Services based on the then existing mode of selection and the development of the present scheme of examination and method of recruitment till the introduction of the impugned proviso to rule 4 of CSE Rules, is necessary so as to have the background of the entire system and to assimilate the compelling necessity warranting the introduction of the new proviso. The Indian Civil Service (ICS) Examination was held only in England by the British Civil Service Commission till 1922 and thereafter in India. Four years later, the newly....
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..... has been and is catering to the All India Services viz. IAS, IFS and IPS; and 16 Central Group 'A' Services and 8 Group 'B' Services. In order to be eligible to compete at the examination, a candidate must satisfy the conditions of eligibility, name- ly, nationality, age and requisite qualifications as envis- aged under Regulation 4 of the I.A.S. (Appointment by Competitive Examination) Regulation 1955. In addition to the above qualifications, one more condition of eligibility is added under Regulation 4 (iii-a) substituted vide Department of Personnel and A.R. notification No. 11028/1/78-A1S (1)--A dated 30.12.1978, according to which unless covered by any of the exceptions that may from time to time be notified by the Central Government in this behalf, every candidate appearing for the examination after 1st January, 1979, who is otherwise eligible shall be permitted three attempts at the examination. In other words, the number of attempts, a candidate can appear, is also made as one of the conditions of eligibility to sit for the IAS competitive examination. It may be pointed out in this connection that by a subse- quent notification dated 23.11.1981, Regulation....
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....ilities." This Court in Lila Dhar v. State of Rajasthan and Others, [1981] 4, SCC 159 while expressing its view about the importance and significance of the two tests, namely, the written and interview has observed thus: "The written examination assess the man's intellect and the interview test the man himself and 'the twain shall meet' for a proper selection". AGE LIMIT Coming to the eligibility of age, it was initially fixed at 21 to 26 years and then reduced in 1948 to 21 to 25 years. In the following year, the age range was further reduced to 21 to 24 years except for the Indian Railway Traffic Service for which it continued to be 21 to 25 years upto 1955. The lower age limit for IPS was reduced to 20 years in the year 1951 keeping the upper age limit at 24 years. The upper age limit for the Indian Railway Traffic Service was reduced to 24 in 1955. The age limits for all other services remained at 21 to 24 years. Thereafter, though the Public Services (Qualification for Recruitment) Committee appointed by the Government of India in 1955 recommended the reduction of the age range from 21-24 to 21-23 years, the Government did not agree with that re....
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.... IFS Category II - IPS and Police Service Class II of the Union Territories Category III - Central Services Class I and Class II In view of the acceptance of the above recommendations, from 1961 onwards, the IAS etc. examination became in effect three examinations. Since the restriction on the number of chances were related not to the examination as a whole, but individual categories, theoretically a candidate could take as many chances as the age limit would permit. Thereafter in 1972 the age limit was raised to 26 years and the reduction of attempts from three to two was not implemented following the recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission. In fact since 1973, candidates were permitted to make three attempts for each of the three categories of services within the permissible age range. It may be stated in this connection that the Kothari Committee had recommended only two attempts for the Civil Services Examination for not only the general candidates but also candidates belonging to the SC/ST but the Government did not agree with these recommendations and permitted three attempts to general candidates and did not impose any restriction on the number of attempts o....
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....rvey on the different aspects of the recruitment for the higher civil services manifestly show that this system did not appear suddenly like a 'dues ex machina' created by the legislative test, but evolved in the direction of political objectivity and under- went a long process of gradual transformation and the role and functions of this higher civil services in India after the advent of independence irrefragably play an important and crucial role not only in providing an element of commonality in administration in our parliamentary democracy but also in accelerating socio-economic development of our country in the context of our constitutional objective of growth with the social justice. The present time cycle of the CSE is such that it takes almost a year from the date of the preliminary examination to the commencement of the final results in that the preliminary examination is held in the month of June and the result of the preliminary examination is announced by the UPSC at the end of July. The Main examination is held in the first week of November, the result of which is usually announced by the third week of March and the interviews begin in the third week of April t....
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....s made at the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination held in 1979 and onwards will count as attempts for this purpose: Provided that this restriction on the number of attempts will not apply in the case of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candi- dates who are otherwise eligible: Provided further that a candidate who on the basis of the results of the previous Civil Services Examination, had been allocated to the I.P.S. or Central Services, Group 'A' but who expressed his intention to appear in the next Civil Services Main Examination for competing for IAS, IFS, IPS or Central Services, Group 'A' and who was permitted to abstain from the probationary training in order to so appear, shall be eligible to do so, subject to the provisions of Rule 17. If the candidate is allocated to a service on the basis of the next Civil Services Main Examination he shall join either that Service or the Service to which he was allocated on the basis of the previous Civil Services Examination failing which his allocation to the service based on one or both examination, as the case may be, shall stand cancelled and notwithstanding anything contained in Rule 8, a candidate who ac....
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....9; I.A.S.,I.F.S. and I.P.S. Provided further that a candidate who is appointed to a Central Service, Group 'B' on the results of an earlier examination will be considered only for appointment to I.A.S., I.F.S., I.P.S. and Central Services, Group 'A'. IAS (Appointment by Competitive Examination) Regulations, 1955 Regulation 4: Conditions of Eligibility: - In order to be eligible to compete at the examination, a candidate must satisfy the following conditions, namely:- (i) Nationality......................... (ii) Age ................................ (iii) Educational Qualifications........... (iii-a) Attempts at the examination - Unless covered by any of the exceptions that may from time to time be notified by the Central Government in this behalf, every candidate ap- pearing for the examination after 1st January 1979, who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted three attempts at the examination;. and the appearance of a candidate at the examination will be deemed to be an attempt at the examination irrespective of his disquali- fication or cancellation, as the case may be, of his candidature. Explanation - An attempt at a preliminary examination shall be....
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....d from the service. The sum and substance of the above proviso is that a candidate who has already been allocated to the IPS/Central Services Group 'A' and who in order to improve his efficacy of selection to higher civil service, expresses his inten- tion to appear in the next CSE (Main) for competing for IAS, IFS, IPS or Central Services Group 'A' and who has been permitted to abstain from the Probationary Training in order to do so, will become eligible to appear in the next CSE (Main) but subject to the provisions of Rule 17, and that the said candidate when allocated to a service on the basis of the next Civil Services (Main) Examination can either join that service or the service to which he has already been allocated on the basis of the previous CSE and that if he fails to join either of the services, his allocation based on one or both the examinations, as the case may be, will stand cancelled. Further, notwithstanding anything contained in Rule 8, a candidate who accepts allocation to a service and is appointed to that service shall not be eligi- ble to appear again in the CSE unless he has first resigned from the service. In other words, a candidate faili....
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....preparing and appearing in the next CSE by neglecting and pretermitting their training programmes and thereby creating a vacuum in the service for considerable time. The said kothari committee, after deeply examining this serious problem, submitted its report, the relevant part of which is as follows: "3.59. It may further be observed that the existing system which permits that candidates qualifying for and joining the police or the Central Services, may appear the Civil Services Examination to improve their career opportunities, has come in for serious criticism from the National Academy of Administra- tion and the respective employing departments. They complain that such probationers neglect their training at both the Academy and the Departmental Training Institutions until they exhaust the admissible number of chances. 3.60. The present practice obviously is not desirable. The number of such cases would be very small with the proposed restriction on the total number of attempts permitted to a candidate. Even so, we think it wrong that the very first thing a young person should do in entering public service is to ignore his obligations to the service concerned, and instead ....
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....ice being the top most service of the country is not wasted and does not become fruitless during the training period is in consonance with the provisions of Article 51-A (j). The Constitution of India has laid down some basic principles relating to public services in Part XIV entitled 'Services under the Union and the State' which has two Chapters, namely chapter I on "Services" covering Articles 308 to 314 of which Article 314 is now repealed by the Twenty eighth Amendment Act, 1972 and Chapter II on "Public Service Commissions" covering Articles 315 to 323. We feel that it is not necessary to deal with the constitutional provisions relating to the executive power of the Union under Article 53 of the Constitution or the extent of the executive power of the Union under Article 73 of the Constitution or recruitment and condition of service of persons serving the Union or the State as contemplated under Article 309 of the Constitution of India since it is not the case of the appellants that either the introduction of the proviso is in violation of any of the provisions of the constitution or the proviso suffers for want of jurisdiction or by im- proper an....
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....en construing statutes enacted in the national interest, we have necessarily to take the broad factual situations contemplated by the Act and interpret its provisions so as to advance and not to thwart the particular national interest whose advancement is pro- posed by the legislation." In the above background, we shall now advert to the arguments advanced on behalf of the appellants. Mr. P.P. Rao, senior counsel appearing for the appellants forcibly and fervently contended that the second proviso to rule 4 of the impugned notification is ultra- vires clause (iii-a) of Regulation 4 of the Regulations, 1955 inasmuch as the power to notify exceptions does not include the power to make ineligible the candidates who are "otherwise eligible" in terms of Clauses (i), (ii) and (iii) of Regulation 4. In other words, all candidates, who satisfy the requirements of nationality, age and educational qualifications prescribed in clauses (i) to (iii) of Regulation 4, are entitled to the maximum number of attempts prescribed in clause (iii-a) which initially was three attempts, since raised to four attempts w.e.f. 1.2.90. He further submits that the expression 'in this behalf&....
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....e Constitution, subject to the provisions of the Constitution, the Central Government in exercise of its executive power can regulate the manner in which the right of a candidate in appearing for the competitive examination is to be exercised and, therefore, the restriction imposed in the second proviso to Rule 4 of CSE Rules is in no way ultra-vires clause (iii-a) of Regulation 4 of Regulations, 1955. The source of power for the Central Government for making rules and regulations for 'Recruitment and the Condi- tions of Services of Persons appointed to All India Services' in consultations with the Government of States con- cerned as well making regulation under or in pursuance of any such right is derived from Section 3 of the All India Services Act, 1951. The Regulations, 1955 were made by Central Government in pursuance of rule 7 of IAS (Recruitment) Rules of 1954 in consultation with the State Governments and the Union Public Service Commission. Clause (iii-a) of Regulation 4 was substituted vide Department of Personnel A & R Notification No. 11028/1/78/AIS dated 13.12.1978 and the latter part of which by another notification dated 23.11.1988. We are concerned only wi....
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....is appended. Before we cogitate and analyse this bone of contention in some detail, it will be convenient at this stage to pore over some of the well established rules of construction which would assist us to steer clear of the impasse entertained by the learned counsel, according to whom some complications are created by the impugned notification being ultra-vires clause (iii-a) of Regulation 4 of Regulations, 1955. Maxwell on the "Interpretation of Statutes" 10th Edition page 7 states thus: " ........... if the choice is between two interpretations, the narrower of which would fail to achieve the manifest purpose of the legislation, we should avoid a construction which would reduce the legislation to futility and should rather accept the bolder construction based on the view that Parliament would legislate only for the purpose of bringing about an effective result." In "Principles of Statutory Interpretation" by Justice G.P. Singh, 4th Edition (1988) at page 18, it is stated thus: "it is a rule now firmly established that the intention of the legislature must be found by reading the statute as a whole". It is said in "Craies on ....
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....sh Kurmar sheti etc. etc., [1985] 1 SCR 29 ruled that the well established doctrine of interpretation is "That the provisions contained in a statutory enactment or in rules/regulations framed thereunder have to be so construed as to be in harmony with each other and that where under a specific section or rule a particular subject has received special treatment, such special provision will exclude the applicability of any general provision which might otherwise cover the said topic." In Philips India Ltd. v. Labour Court, Madras and Ors., [1985] 3 SCR 103, it is observed: "No canon of statutory construction is more firmly established than that the statute must be read as a whole. This is a general rule of construction applicable to all statutes alike which spoken of as construction ex visceribus actus." It has been held by this Court in Balasinor Nagrik Cooperative Bank Ltd. v. Babubhai Shankerlal Pandya and others. [1987] 1 SCC at 608 as follows: "It is an elementary rule that construction of a section is to be made of all parts together. It is not permissible to omit any part of it. For, the principle that the statute must be read as a whole is equal....
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....rom Att. Gen. v. Chelsea Waterworks Co., [1731] Fitzg. 195 which reads that if a proviso cannot reasonably be construed otherwise than as contradicting the main enactment, then the proviso will prevail on the principle that "it speaks that last intention of the makers". It is pointed out in Piper v. Harvey, [1958] 10.B.439 that if, however, the language of the proviso makes it plain that it was intended to have an operation more extensive than that of the provision which it immediately follows, it must be given such wider effect. In R. v. Leeds Prison (Governor), Ex p. Stafford [1964] 2 Q.B. 625 it is pointed out thus: "The main part of a section must not be con- strued in such a way as to render a proviso to the section redundant." A Constitution Bench of this Court in Ram Narain Sons Ltd. and Ors. v. Asstt. Commissioner of Sales tax and Ors., [1955] 2 SCR 483 has made the following observations: "It is a cardinal rule of interpretation that a proviso to a particular provision of a statute only embraces the field which is covered by the main provision. It carves out an exception to the main provision to which it has been enacted as proviso and to no....
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.... of which is reflected in Regulation 4 of the Regulations, 1955. In fact, Rule 4 as stood till 1986, in its normal course, allowed a candidate to appear for three attempts, since increased to 4 for 1990 and 1991 Examinations. But the restriction is imposed by the second proviso only under certain circumstances as repeated- ly indicated above. Although the notification of 1986 introducing the impugned proviso, no doubt, has to be strictly construed, the Court cannot overlook the very aim and object of the proviso thereby either defeating its purpose or rendering it redundant or inane or making it otiose. Judged from any angle, we are not impressed by the contention of Mr. P.P. Rao that there is a violent breach of the provisions of the substantive Rule 4 of CSE Rules and Regulation 4 (iii-a) and we are not able to persuade ourselves to hold that the impugned second proviso either subverts or destroys the basic objectives of Rule 4 and that it is ultra-vires. In this connection, it may be noted that the restriction or embargo, as the one under consideration is not only placed on the candidates who on the basis of the result of the previous CSE had been allocated and appointed to IPS....
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.... that service shall not be eligible to appear again in the CSE unless he first resigns from that service. In other words, a candidate who is allocated and appointed to a service can sit in the ensuing examination provided he first resigns from that service. This restriction, in our view, is a reasonable one in order to achieve the desired result in the background of the situation and circumstances about which we have elaborately discussed albeit. In conclusion, we hold that the second proviso to Rule 4 of CSE Rules does not travel beyond the intent of the main rule putting any unjustifiable embargo and that the proviso is not ultra-vires Regulation 4 (iii-a) of Regulations 1955 on the ground it makes the candidates ineligible who are otherwise eligible in terms of clauses (i) to (iii) of the said Regulation and that the proviso to Rule 17 is not invalid. An enactment is never to be held invalid unless it be, beyond question, plainly and palpably in excess of legislative power or it is ultra-vires or inconsistent with the statutory or constitutional provisions or it does not con- form to the statutory or constitutional requirements or is made arbitrarily with bad faith of oblique ....
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....e Civil Services Examination unless he has first resigned from the service." Thirdly a correct and proper reading of the last limb of the proviso clearly demonstrates that the expression "a candidate" refers only to the candidate, mentioned in the earlier part of the proviso. Lastly, if such an interpretation is to be given on the wrong reading of the proviso, then the whole object of the proviso will be defeated. Mrs. C.M. Chopra scathingly attacks the judgment of the Tribunal inter-alia contending that the protection guaranteed to the candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution - more particularly under Article 335 of the Constitution of India cannot be taken away by an arbitrary executive action by introducing the second proviso, thereby reducing the number of permissible attempts for appearing in the CSE hitherto enjoyed by such candidates; that the right statutorily and constitutionally vested on the SC/ST candidates, permitting them to make unlimited attempts, of course, subject to the upper age limit cannot be easily whittled down and that the second proviso is an independent proviso, having no relation to the first pr....
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....nal requirement to that of the substantive rule 4 and the first proviso. The expression "provided further" spells out that the first proviso cannot be read in isolation or independent of the second proviso but it must be read in conjunction with the second proviso. To put in other words, once the candidates belonging to SC or ST get through one common examination and interview test and are allocated and appointed to a service based on their ranks and performance and brought under the one and the same stream of category, then they too have to be treated among all other regularly and lawfully selected candidates and there cannot be any preferential treatment at that stage on the ground that they belong to SC or ST, though they may be entitled for all other statutory benefits such as to the relaxation of age, the reservation etc. The unrestricted number of attempts, subject to the upper age limit, is available to the SC/ST candidates in the normal course but that is subject to the second proviso because when once they are allocated and appointed along with other candidates to a category/post, they are treated alike. Ramaswami, J speaking for the Constitution Bench in C.A. Ra....
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....439, Triloki Nath v. State of J&K, [1969] 1 SCR 103 and T. Devadasan v. Union of India, [1964] 4 SCR 680 and Comptroller and Auditor-General of India v. K.S. Jagannathan, [1986] 2 SCC 679 at 684 (para 6). The Constitution, no doubt, has laid a special responsibility on the Government to protect the claims of SC/ST in the matter of public appointments under various Constitu- tional provisions of which we shall presently refer to a few. Article 16(4), as manifested from the various decisions of this court referred to hereinbefore, is an enabling provision conferring a discretionary power on the State for making any provision or reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens, which in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the service under the State. The expression 'backward class' obviously takes within its fold people belonging to SC and ST (vide Janki Prasad v. State of J&K, AIR 1973 S.C. 930). Clause 4 of Article 16 has to be interpreted in the back- ground of Article 335 as ruled by this Court in General Manager v. Rangachari, AIR 1962 S.C. 36 and in Rajendran's case referred to above. Article 335 enjoins that the....
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....dates from availing their statutorily conferred and protected right. Therefore, such a serverance of status from the service is ex-facie wrong, even if one can understand losing of senior- ity. We have already discussed this interpellation in extenso while dealing with similar contentions and our considered view expressed albeit will clearly answer this contention. Hence, we hold that there is no question of severance of status as we have come to the conclusion that the restriction imposed by the impugned proviso cannot be said to be unjust, unreasonable or arbitrary or change of any policy and moreover, the spirit of the main rule is not in any way disturbed. In the result, we conclude that there is neither any tenable reason nor any logic in the above submission. Then a mordacious criticism was unleashed by all the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants inter-alia contending that the second proviso which is an administrative instruction is highly arbitrary and irrational having no nexus to the object of the scheme of recruit- ment to the post of civil services and that there was inadequate attention paid to the nexus between the intent of the proviso and the objec....
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....etely neglecting their training in the academies/Training Institutes and also have gone on enmass leave thereby creating a complete vacuum in the academy and the Training Institutes for the purpose of preparing for the next CSE (Main) in the hope of getting a better position and a more preferred service like IAS, IFS etc. without having a sense of involvement with the service to which they have been allocated and appointed on the basis of the earlier examination. It seems that the Government had been facing this disturbed problem of indiscipline and inattentiveness among the probationers undergoing training who were busy themselves with the preparation for the ensuing CSE. As a result of this, bent on preparation for the CSE the training imparted was not seriously taken and the concentration of the probationers was only in the preparation of the next CSE. Consequently, the standard of officers turned out of the academy on completion of their training declined very much. Therefore, in order to overcome this problem it was suggested and considered that the probation- ers selected and allocated to a service and sent for training should be debarred from appearing in the ensuing CSE so ....
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....ointed to Group 'B' services, in that the said proviso by placing the onerous condition of resignation from service of candidates appointed to the IPS and Group 'A' service in substance and effect and it precludes them from competing for higher civil service with the candidates appointed to Group 'B' service and thereby facilitates the selection of candidates with relatively inferior merit to posts of superior Group 'A' services. In other words, the impugned proviso excludes the candidates appointed to group 'A' services from competition on the one hand and on the other facilitates selection from amongst less meritorious candidates appointed to Group 'B' services to the highest and prestigious All India Services. This defeats the very object of securing the services of most meritorious candidates to the most important All India Services and it is arbitrary for want of rational nexus between the classification of candidates with the proven superior merit and those of inferior merit and consequently the object of recruiting the most meritorious candidates to the top-most All India Services is frustrated. In addition to the above submiss....
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....under (iv) to (xix) were Group 'A' services and (xx) to (xxvii) were Group 'B' services. In the nomenclature of Group 'A' and Group 'B' services, there was slight variation. In the subsequent notification issued on 17.12.1988, besides the first three services being the same, the total number of services in group 'A' was 16 and in Group 'B' the number of services was reduced to 7. In 1989, the first three services remaining the same, there were 16 services under items (iv) to (xix) in Group 'A' services and 8 services/posts in Group 'B' Services under item (xx) to (xxvii). In the notification issued on 5th January 1991, the total services were reduced from 27 to 26 and items (i) to (iii) remaining the same, there were 16 Group 'A' services (iv to xix) and 7 services in Group 'B' (xx to xxvi). Thus, it is seen that there was inclusion or exclusion of one service or other besides the change of nomenclature in one or two services in the notifications for the CSE every year. As envisaged in Rule 17, due consideration is given at the time of making appointments and on the results of the examination to the pre....
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....Secretary, selected in Group 'A' services, is not allowed to sit for examination by availing his third chance, a Section Officer coming under Group 'B' services is permitted to sit for examination availing his chance without resigning from service, emphatically stated that this argument has no merit since in Group 'A' services, there is a vertical movement. The learned ASG further clarified that Group 'A' and Group 'B' services are two separate services, having different status, prospects, conditions of services and pay scales and both the services under the two groups are not similarly situated, besides the candidates in Group 'A' services standing in higher rank and merit. The Tribunal after deeply considering the similar con- tention raised before it has concluded as follows: ....... We do not see any reasonable basis to urge that Group 'A' and Group 'B' Services should be treated at par. Even their pay scales and conditions of service not the same as in the Group 'A' Services. It is, there- fore, not a question of comparing these two Services and placing them at par. In our opinion, there is no discrimin....
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....es, 1971 - all made under Article 309 of the Constitution of India - and attempted to show that various provisions of those rules relating to the recruitment and service conditions go in support of their submissions that there is a hostile discrimination between the candidates of Group 'A' services and Group 'B' services. In our considered opinion,. this abortive attempt made by the learned counsel does not loom large and assume any significance in examining the broad aspect of the main issues involved and in testing the constitutionality of the said proviso. Now, it necessarily follows whether the classification of these two services, one falling under Group 'A' and another failing under Group 'B' are based on intelligible differentia. The Constitution Bench of this Court in R.K. Dalmia's case (supra) after reiterating the legal principle enunciat- ed by a Constitution Bench of Seven Judges of this Court in Budhart Choudhry v. State of Bihar, [1955] 1 SCR 1045, has ruled thus: "It is now well established that while Article 14 forbids class legislation, it does not forbid reasonable classification for the purposes of legislation." ....
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....s to inter- fere with the manner and method of making the classification." In the above case, the Court has distinguished the decision in Rajendran's case (referred to above). Y.V. Chandrachud, J as he then was speaking for the Constitution Bench in State of Jammu & Kashmir v. Triloki Nath Khosa & Ors., [1974] 1 SCR 771 in which it was contend- ed on behalf of the State that is always open to the Government to classify its employees so long as the classification is reasonable and has nexus with the object thereto, stated as follows: "Thus, it is no part of the appellants' burden to justify the classification or to establish its constitutionality. Formal education may not always produce excellence but a classification founded on variant educational qualifications is for purposes of promotion to the post of an Executive Engineer, to say the least, not unjust on the fact of it and the onus therefore cannot shift from where it originally lay....................................... Classification is primarily for the legislature or for the statutory authority charged with the duty of framing the terms and conditions of service, and if, looked at from the standpoint o....
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....lassification, it is necessary to take into account the objective for such classification. If the objective be illogical, unfair and unjust, necessarily the classification will have to be held as unreasonable. Surrounding circumstances may be taken into consideration in support of the constitutionality of a law which is otherwise hostile or discriminatory in nature. But the circumstances must be such as to justify the discriminatory treatment or the classification subserving the object sought to be achieved. A classification by the identification of a source must not be arbitrary, but should be on a reasonable basis having a nexus with the object sought to be achieved by the rules for such admission. A classification need not be made with mathematical precision but, if there be little or no difference between the person or things which have been grouped together and those left out of the group, the classification cannot be said to be a reasonable one ........... ................. .... It is true that a classification need not be made with mathematical precision but, if there be little or no difference between the persons or things which have been grouped together and those left out....
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....tion is per se irrational, unjust and discriminatory and as such ultra-vires Article 14. We shall now bestow out judicious thought over this matter and carefully examine the rival contentions of the rival parties in the light of the guiding principles, lucid- ly laid down by this Court in a series of decisions, a few of which we have already referred to hereinbefore. The selections for IAS. IFS and IPS group 'A' services and group 'B' service are made by a combined competitive examination and viva voce test. There cannot be any dispute that each service is a distinct and separate cadre, having its separate field of operation, with different status, prospects, pay scales, the nature of duties, the responsibilities to the post and conditions of service etc. Therefore, once a candidate is selected and appointed to a particular cadre, he cannot be allowed to say that he is at par with the others on the ground that all of them appeared and were selected by a combined competitive examination and viva voce test and that the qualifications prescribed are comparable. In our considered view, the classification of the present case is not based on artificial inequalities but i....
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....duce some inequality. The provisions of Article 14 of the Constitution have come up for discussion before this Court in a number of cases but we feel that in the present case, it is not necessary to go in for any lengthy discussion as 10 the origin, meaning and the gradual development of the concept of principles and enlargement of the scope and effect of this Article. Suffice to mention a few decisions of this court relating to the issue under consideration, namely- Chiranjit Lal Chowdhury v. The Union of India; Budhart Choudhry and Others v. The State of Bihar; R.K. Dalmia v. Justice Tendolkar (all cited above); E.P. Royappe v. State of Tamil Nadu, [1974] 2 SCR 348; Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, [1978] 1 SCC 248; Ramana v. International Airport Authority of India, AIR 1979 SC 1928; Union of India v. Tulsiram Patel, [1985] 3 SCC 398; Swadeshi Cotton Mills v. Union of India, [1981] 2 SCR 533; and Central Inland Water Transport Corpo- ration v. Brojo Nath, AIR 1986 SC 1971. In Devadasan v. Union of India, [1964] 4 SCR 680 wherein Subba Rao, J as he then was, has dissented from the majority and pointed out that the expression "equality before the law or the equal protection....
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....ase has held: "If, as must must be, it is conceded that the existencies, convenience, or necessity or a particular department might justify the imposition of a total ban on the employees in that department, from seeking employment in other departments, a partial ban which permits them to seek only certain posts in the same department cannot be characterised as illegal as being discriminatory. The mere fact therefore that under the rules officers in certain other departments are permitted to compete for a Class I post is no ground by itself for considering such a variation as an unreasonable discrimination, violative of Articles 14 and 16 (1) of the Constitution as not based on a classification having a ration- al and reasonable relation to the object to be attained. Of course, no rule imposes a' ban on these employees resigning their posts and competing for posts in the open competition along with 'open market 'candidates. " As we have repeatedly held that each of the civil services, namely IAS, IFS, IPS, Group 'A' Services and Group 'B' Services is a separate and determinate service forming a distinct cadre and that each of the services is ....
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....n candidates have passed the preliminary examination of 1990 and have also applied for the main examination within the due date. This permission is only for the ensuing examination. As we are now permitting those who have passed the preliminary examination of 1990 and have applied for the main examination on the basis of the unquestioned and unchallenged directions given under paras 5(ii), 6 and 7 of the judgment of the CAT, Principal Bench, New Delhi, the same benefit is extended to the other appellants also who satisfy those conditions as mentioned under paras 5(ii), 6 and 7." On the strength of the above order, we direct the respondents inclusive of the Union Public Service Commission that all those candidates who have appeared for the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 1990, pursuant to our permission given in the order dated 7.12.90 and who have come out successfully in the said examination and thereby have quali- fied themselves for the intervie W, that if those candidates completely and satisfactorily qualify themselves by getting through the written examinations as well as the interview shall be given proper allocation and appointment on the basis of their rank in th....
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....May be allowed to sit at the next Civil Service Examination, provided he is within the permissible age limit, without having to resign from the service to which he has been allocated, nor would he lose his original seniority in the service to which he is allocated if he is unable to take training with his own Batch. 6. Those applicants who have been allocated to the I.P.S. or any Central Services, Group 'A', can have one more attempt in the subsequent Civil Services Examination for the services indicated in Rule 17 of the C.S.E. Rules. The Cadre Controlling Authorities can grant one opportunity to such candidates. 7. All these candidates who have been allocated to any of the Central Services, Group 'A', or I.P.S. and who have appeared in Civil Services Main Examination of a subsequent year under the interim orders of the Tribunal for the Civil Services Examination in 1988 or 1989 and have succeeded, are to be given benefit of their success subject to the provisions of Rule 17 of the C.S.E. Rules. But this exemp- tion will not be available for any subsequent Civil Services Examination. It is pertinent to note that the respondent has not challenged the above dire....
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....r conferred by the second proviso to Rule 4 of the Civil Services Examination 1987. The examination is going to be held on 10.6.1990. In view of this, we direct that if it is convenient and administratively possible, the respondents shall allow the applicant provisionally to appear in the said examination. Respondents may also consider granting him necessary leave etc. for the purpose. Issue dasti." In M.P. No. 1251/90 in O.A. No.944/1989 which has given rise to Civil Appeal No. 5471/90, CAT, New Delhi has passed the following order:- "We have heard learned counsel for the parties and we think it will be in the interest of justice to allow the prayer for interim order to enable the petitioner to sit in the preliminary C.S.E. 1990. Learned counsel for the petitioner states that the petitioner has received the admission card. He is directed to give the Registration No./Roll No. to the Secretary, UPSC by 4.6.1990. We direct the respondents to permit the petitioner to appear in the preliminary C.S.E. 1990 without pressing for his resignation from the service and also grant him necessary leave etc. for appearing in the said examination. This interim order will be subject t....