TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2002 (12) TMI 605
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....g Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings), Act, 1970 (hereinafter referred to as '1970 Act'). The banks were said to be over-staffed. For the purpose of effective management , man power planning was contemplated by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, pursuant whereto and in furtherance whereof, the Government considered the desirability of introducing voluntary retirement scheme to help the banks to right-size their force. In a letter dated 22.5.200, the Director (IR & BOII), Ministry of Finance, intimated to the concerned banks that different committees and experts opined that most of the banks have 25% surplus manpower. It was observed : "While there is a need for inducting new workforce, which had adequate knowledge of new skills such as modern technology, foreign exchange, venture capital, e-commerce, money management, etc. it is also essential to rationalize the existing manpower. In doing so, it has to be ensured that there should be adequate opportunities for promotions for all and proper balance between promoted and direct recruit officers at entry level. Sufficient promotional opportunities should be created for the entrants in non-exec....
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....d Banks adopted separately but almost identical scheme known as "Employees Voluntary Retirement Scheme". We may, however, observe that the scheme adopted by the State Bank of India (hereinafter referred to 'SBIVRS') in certain respects differ from the scheme of the Nationalised Banks (hereinafter referred to the 'said scheme'). For our purpose, we would consider them separately. The said scheme was applicable in relation to employees who on the date of application had completed 15 years of service or 40 years of age. The employees specified therein including specialised officers were not eligible to seek voluntary retirement. However, in certain scheme they were ordinarily ineligible for being considered. The period during which the said scheme was to remain operative varies from bank to bank. However, as far as Punjab National Bank was concerned, the said scheme was to remain in operation from 1.11.2000 to 30.11.2000. In terms of the said scheme those who sought for voluntary retirement were entitled to ex-gratia payments as specified therein as also other benefits which are as follows :- "AMOUNT OF EX-GRATIA An employee seeking voluntary retirement under the....
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....ment under this scheme will not be eligible for re-employment in the bank or any of its subsidiaries. 10.13. The benefits payable under this scheme shall be in full and final settlement of all claims of whatsoever nature, whether arising under the scheme or otherwise to the employee (or to his nominee in case of death). An employee who voluntarily retired under this scheme will not have any claim against the bank of whatsoever nature and no demand or dispute or difference will be raised by him or on his behalf, whether for re-employment or compensation or back wages including employment of any of his relative on compassionate grounds in the service of the bank or for any other benefit whatsoever. 10.14. The vacancy caused by voluntary retirement shall not be filled up by new recruitment. 10.15. The ex-gratia payable to an employee on opting for Voluntary Retirement under this scheme would be paid to him within 45 days from the date of his relieving. PROCEDURE An employee eligible to seek voluntary retirement under this scheme should make a request on the prescribed application enclosed with this scheme as Annexure-A or Annexure A-1 as the case may be through proper chan....
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....p; BO/Division __________" A large number of employees (1,01,000 employees approx.) submitted their applications out of whom a small number of employees (200 employees approx.) withdrew their offer. Despite withdrawal of their offer the same was accepted. In some cases offers despite withdrawal thereof were accepted within the period during which the scheme was operative and in some beyond the same. The scheme was introduced by the banks with the approval of the Board of Directors. Questioning the action on the part of the banks, in accepting the applications of the concerned employees despite their withdrawal, writ petitions were filed in the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Bombay High Court, Uttaranchal High Court etc. Before the Punjab & Haryana High Court, the legality or validity of the said scheme also ca....
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....we want to make some observations with regard to those employees who had taken the benefit under the VRS Scheme but they have not approached this court as they appear to be satisfied/ with the amount/benefits already received by them. With regard to them we want to make it clear that the Banks are not obliged to recall these employees for employment" The Bombay High Court and the other High Courts, on the other hand, held that clause 10.5 of the scheme or the scheme framed framed by the other banks is not operative as the employees have indefeasible rights to withdraw their offer before the same is accepted. In arriving at its aforementioned finding, the High Courts, inter alia, relied on the following decisions of this Court in Union of India & Ors. v. Gopal Chandra Misra & Ors. [(1978) 2 SCC 301], Balram Gupta v. Union of India & Anr. [(1987) Supp.SCC 228], Punjab National Bank v. P.K. Mittal [(1989) Supp. 2 SCC 175], Union of India & Anr. v. Wing Commander T. Parthasarathy [(2001) 1 SCC 158] and Shambhu Murari Sinha v. Project & Development India Ltd. & Anr. [(2002) 3 SCC 437]. Assailing the judgment of the High Courts, Mr. Soli J. Sorabjee, learned Attorney General for In....
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...., para 957 and American Jurisprudence, 2d, Volume 28, pages 677 to 680. As regards the finding of the Punjab & Haryana High Court that the scheme is ultra vires having regard to the fact that the same was not laid before the Parliament as required under Section 19(4) of 1970 Act, it was contended that such a provision being directory one, failure on the part of the Central Government to lay the said scheme before the Parliament could not vitiate the scheme itself. Strong reliance, in this connection, has been placed in Jan Mohammad Noor Mohammad Begban v. State of Gujarat & Anr. [(1966) 1 SCR 505] and M/s Atlas Cycle Industries Ltd. & Ors. v. The State of Haryana [(1979) 2 SCC 196]. It was urged that the entire scheme was offered to the employees as a package and the same had to be treated as such and in that view of the matter, it being within the realm of contract, statutory regulations cannot be said to have any application whatsoever. Mr. V.R. Reddy who appeared for the Punjab National Bank in the matters arising out the judgment and orders passed by the Bombay High Court, inter alia, would submit that the High Court erred in proceeding on the basis as if the employees ar....
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.... 15.2.2001; c) Employees whose request for voluntary retirement is accepted, were to stand retired on 31.3.2001 and paid accordingly. Having regard to the difficulties which may be faced by some of the employees, by a circular a cut-off date of 15.2.2001 was fixed; thereby granting opportunities to the employee to withdraw the option exercised by him. The logic and necessity therefor, inter alia, was :- i) the purpose of the SBIVRS was inter alia to have overall reduction in the existing strength of the employees. However, the bank were also required to control the outflow according to its requirements, for which the bank retained the discretion to limit the number of employees allowed to retire. ii) A decision was taken by the bank that around 10% employees may be allowed to retire under the VRS; the petitioner bank had to process the applications of all the employees who had opted for VRS. This ratio of 10% could be achieved only after the bank receives a definite figure about the number of persons opting for VRS and withdrawing later. iii) Further the final decision of the category of persons eligible under VRS could be taken only after the petitioner bank had the....
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....ed counsel would submit, that having regard to the provision contained in Section 5 of the Contract Act, the concerned employee had an absolute right to withdraw the same before a concluded contract is arrived at. Clause 10.5 of the Punjab National Bank VRS is, thus, ultra vires Section 5 of the Contract Act. Strong reliance, in this connection, has been placed on Rajendra Kumar Verma v. State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors. [AIR 1972 MP 131], Abdus Salam Choudhury v. The State of Assam & Ors. [AIR 1991 Gauhati 9] and Devi Krishan Goyal v. District Inspector of Schools, Ghaziabad & Ors. [ J.T. 1988 (4) SC 201]. Mr. Gopal Subramanium, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent in Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) Nos.19373-404 of 2002, would submit that the scheme formulated by other public sector banks including Punjab & Sind Bank is identical to that of Punjab National Bank. According to the learned counsel, the entire scheme has be read as a whole. It was pointed out that the scheme had a limited duration from 1.12.2000 to 31.12.2000, and a cumulative consideration of the relevant clauses would clearly show that the relationship between the master and servant c....
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....g on behalf of the respondents in Civil Appeals arising out of SLP (C) Nos.19373-405 of 2002, would contend that the offending clause having been unilaterally prescribed would not amount to a contractual bar. Such a contractual bar, the learned counsel would submit, must be based on consideration. A contractual scheme must not offend the right of the employee under Section 5 of the Indian Contract Act, in terms whereof the offeror is entitled to revoke his proposal/offer at any time before the communication of the acceptance. Relying upon or on the basis of a large number of decisions by different High Courts, namely, Zoravarmal v. Gopal Das [AIR 1922 Mad. 486, 491], Secretary of State v. Bhaskar Krishnaji [AIR 1925 Bom. 485,487, 488], Somu Sundram Pillai v. Provincial Government [AIR 1947 Mad. 366, 368], Raghunandan v. State of Hyderabad [AIR 1963 AP 110, 113], T. Linga Godar v. State of Madras [AIR 1971 Mad. 28], Rajendra K. Verma v. State of M.P. [AIR 1972 M.P. 131], Sri Durga Saw Mills v. State of Orissa [AIR 1978 Orissa 41,43], Managing Committee v. State of Bihar [AIR 1981 Patna 271, 272], Janardhan Misra v. State of U.P. [AIR 1981 Allahabad 213, 216-217], M/s Suraj Besan & R....
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....ted by the Punjab & Haryana High Court and Bombay High Court and the other High Courts, the said decision cannot be sustained. Mr. D. Goburdhan, appearing on behalf of the respondent-employee of the State Bank of India would submit that his client, who had completed 19 years, 10 months of service, had made the offer as he wanted pensionary benefits having regard to the circular issued by the Indian Banks' Association of which the State Bank of India is manager, namely, that who had completed 15 years of service may opt therefor, but withdrew the same as he was informed that he would not get his pensionary benefits. Mr. Pradeep Gupta appearing in Civil Appeal Nos.5380-81 of 2002 on behalf of the concerned employees of Allahabad Bank, would submit that as the respondent therein was working in a foreign exchange branch, and having been doing a specialised job, would not have ordinarily come within the purview of the scheme. It was pointed out that his letter of withdrawal was strongly recommended by the Branch Manager but despite the same, by reason of the writ petition, the competent authority accepted the same without assigning any reason. The said order, contends the lear....
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....ys which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree in making any modification in the regulation or both Houses agree that the regulation should not be made, the regulation shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be, so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that regulation." Pursuant to or in furtherance of the power conferred upon the 'Bank' under clause (f) of sub-section (2) of Section 19 of 1970 Act, the Punjab National Bank (Employees') Pension Regulation, 1995 was framed; the relevant provisions being Regulations 28 and 29 thereof read thus :- "28. Superannuation Pension Superannuation pension shall be granted to an employee who has retired on his attaining the age of superannuation specified in the Service Regulations or Settlements." 29. Pension on voluntary Retirement 1) On or after the 1st day of November, 1993, at any time after an employee has complete....
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....who have put in 15 years of service or have completed 40 years of age as on 31st December, 2000. Age will be reckoned on the basis of the date of birth as entered in service record. Ineligible : The following categories of employees are ineligible under the scheme; i. Staff members who have executed bonds and have not completed it; staff members serving abroad under the special arrangements/bonds. The Board of Directors may, however, waive this, subject to fulfillment of the bond/other requirements. ii. Employees against whom Disciplinary Proceedings are contemplated/pending or who are under suspension. This will also include employees against whom action has been initiated by Government Agencies/other law enforcing agencies. iii. Employees appointed on contract basis. iv. Watch and ward staff. v. Specialist Officers. vi. Highly skilled and qualified staff. 4. xxx 5. Amount of Ex-gratia : The staff members whose request for retirement under SBIVRS has been accepted by Competent Authority will be paid an amount of ex-gratia of 60 days' salary (pay plus stagnation increments plus special pay plus dearness allowance for each completed year of servi....
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....e deemed to have come into effect unless the decision of the Competent Authority has been communicated in writing. General conditions : i. Staff members desirous of availing benefits under the scheme will have to submit a written application to the Competent Authority, through proper channel, in the specified format, within the period for which the Scheme is kept open. ii. A staff member retired under the scheme will not be eligible for re-employment in the Bank or its subsidiaries/Associates joint ventures (including offices outside India). iii. The employees seeking retirement under SBIVRS will not be entitled to dispute the payments received under the scheme on any ground whatsoever. The retiring staff member and/or their nominees or legal heirs shall have no right/claim demands against the Bank on any matter relating to the scheme. iv. As SBIVRS is voluntary, it shall not be negotiable and shall not be deemed or construed as a subject matter of right or contract of service. It will not be a subject matter of any industrial disputes under the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and shall not be cited as precedent, custom, convention, usage or practice any ti....
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.... an offer/proposal or merely an invitation to offer. The question is whether the banks intended to make an offer or merely issued an invitation to treat is essentially a question of fact. As would appear from the discussions made hereinafter there appears to be some difference in the schemes floated by the State Bank of India and the nationalized banks. We may consider the cases of nationalized bank first. The circular dated 20.8.2000 and the scheme framed by the banks are required to be read together for the purpose of ascertaining the true intendment thereof. The scheme essentially was floated as has been mentioned herein before with a purpose of downsizing the employees. Such a scheme although may incidentally be beneficial also to the employees but was primarily beneficial to the banks. The ultimate aim and object of floating such a scheme as has been stated in the circular letter issued by the Ministry of Finance was for the purpose of effective functioning of the banks so as to enable them to compete with the private banks. The employees of the nationalized bank may not enjoy a 'status' as is the case of government employees or the statutory authorities whose....
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....n of the contract as also the determination thereof. Subject to certain just exceptions even specific performance of contract by way of a direction for reinstatement of a dismissed employee is also permissible in law. It is in the aforementioned backdrop, the questions are required to be answered. It is now well-known that the use of the term 'offer' or 'proposal' is not decisive. It, as noticed, would depend upon the fact involved in the matter. In Anson's Law of Contract, 26th Edn. at p.25 it is stated: "Offers and Invitations to Treat: It is sometimes difficult to distinguish statements of intention which cannot, and are not intended to result in any binding obligation from offers which admit of acceptance, and so become binding promises. A person advertises goods for sale in a newspaper, or announces that he will sell them by tender or by auction; a shopkeeper displays goods in a shop window at a certain p rice; or a bus company advertises that it will carry passengers from A to Z and will reach Z and other intermediate stops at certain times. In such cases it may be asked whether the statement made is an offer capable of acceptance or merely an inv....
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....tification of assent, but only when he himself has signed the document in which the statement is contained." The law relating to 'offer' and 'acceptance' is not simple. In Hamilton, Rau and Winthraub on Contracts, the learned authors referred to a decision of Habaska Seed Co. Vs. Harsh 98 Nob 89, 152 NW 310 wherein the purported offer "I want $ 2.25 cent per cent for this seed fobcowell," was held not be an offer on the ground that the defendant did not say "I offer to sell you. At page 346 of the said treatise, it is stated: "The rules of offer and acceptance are usually favourites of law students; they are easily stated and tend to be rather mechnical in their operation. They also involve situations that are relatively easy to grasp and in which various policy consideration are close to the surface. However, one should not assume that one has mastered the law of contracts simply because one is conversant with rules of offer and acceptance. In deed the writings of modern contracts scholars tend to deprecate the importance of the rules of offer and acceptance. See Geneally G Gilmore, the Death of Contract (1974): L. Freidman, Contract Law in America (196....
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....king process involved application of mind on the part of several authorities. (iv) Decision making process was to be formed at various levels. (v) The process of acceptance of an offer made by an employee was in the discretion of competent authority. (vi) The request of voluntary retirement would not take effect in praesenti but in future. (vii) The Bank reserved its right to alter/rescind the conditions of the scheme. From what has been noticed herein before, it is apparent that the Nationalized banks in terms of the scheme had secured for themselves an unfettered and unguided right to deal with the jural relationship between themselves and their employees. It is not a case where on mere making of option on the part of the employee the offer is to be accepted or even there will be reasonable certainty that some norms should be maintained. There is no consideration for the contractual bar clause. The submission of the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the banks that the proposal to the effect that the option made by an employee would be considered, is a consideration cannot be accepted. Once it is held that the provisions of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 w....
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.... Mr. Gibson. The council wrote a letter to Mr. Gibson that "it may be prepared to sell the house to you at the purchase price of Pounds 2,725 less 20% = Pounds 2180 (free hold)". He was invited to make a formal application which he did. Before the documents could be executed the control of the council changed hands as a result whereof policy of selling the council house was reversed. When it was claimed by Mr. Gibson that the transaction amounted to a binding contract, the House of Lords negativing the same held that the letter in question was an invitation to treat and Mr. Gibson's application was an offer and not an acceptance. In the instant case, there was even no reasonable certainty that the scheme would be acted upon. Furthermore terms and conditions thereof could be amended and even the scheme itself could be rescinded. We, therefore, have no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that the voluntary scheme was not a proposal or an offer but merely an invitation to treat and the applications filed by the employees constituted 'offer'. Once the application filed by the employees is held to be an 'offer'; Section 5, in absence of any other indep....
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....e used will be deemed to be final" would not mean that when an offer made it is not open to be withdrawn before it is accepted. The respondent No.1 obviously acted under the wrong notion and the High Court did not appreciate this aspect. We would accordingly hold that the appellant was entitled to withdraw the option". We may at once point out that the stands of the learned counsel appearing on behalf of banks is inconsistent and self-contradictory. Whereas once it was argued that the offer was made by the bank by floating the scheme and once an application is filed, the same would amount to acceptance of offer; on the same breath they took recourse to the 'doctrine of option' which is applicable only at the instance of the offeror, who in this case would be the employees. The submission in our considered opinion proceed on a total misconception. By reason of making such option or firm offer the offeror must get some benefit or the offeree must incur some detriment. The contracts in which the said principle can be applied would be a case where there would usually be a money payment. In the instant case apart from the fact that no consideration is passed, the banks ....
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.... a specified time. The mere fact that such a promise has been made does not prevent the offeror from revoking the offer within that period since normally the promise will be unsupported by consideration. Most obviously such consideration will be provided if the offeree pays (or promises to pay) a sum of money for the promise and so buys an option. Consideration may also be provided by some other promise; for example, in the case of an offer to sell a house, the offeree may provide consideration for the offeror's promise not to revoke the offer for a specified time by promising not to dispose of those shares elsewhere during that time. The performance of the offeree's promise to keep the offer open. In one case a vendor of land entered into a so-called "lock-out" agreement by which he promised a prospective purchaser not to consider other offers if that purchaser would exchange contracts within two weeks; and it was said that "the promise by the [purchaser] to get on by limiting himself to just two weeks" constituted consideration for the vendor's promise not to consider other offers. The case is not strictly one of a firm offer since the vendor's promise would no....
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....ing: a lease with an option in the lessee to renew the lease or but the reversion; a hire purchase agreement; a sale with an option of repurchase granted to either the seller or the buyer; a sale with an option for the buyer to make further purchases on similar terms; a service or agency agreement with an option in either party to renew. Certain contracts of option have been made void or illegal by statute. With regard to the envisaged major contract, the effect of the contract of option is to create an irrevocable offer and a power of acceptance. The offer is irrevocable in the sense that it is a breach of the contract of option to revoke it, and its effect is to create a power of acceptance in the option-holder good against the grantor of the option and sometimes also against third parties. Thus the grantor of the option is under a conditional duty, and the option- holder has a conditional right of performance of the option offer, that condition being the exercise of the power of acceptance by the option-holder; as the envisaged major contract may be bilateral or unilateral, that condition may be an acceptance or other act by the option-holder. Furthermore, the exercise of the....
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....ecified therein. The said regulations had specifically been mentioned for the purpose of computation which would include invocation of Sub-regulation 4 of Regulation 29 providing for relaxation of 5 years towards the qualifying period. The employees must have proceeded on the basis that despite the fact that they have merely rendered 15 years of service which was not a qualifying service under the regulations, they would be entitled to the pensionary benefits in terms of the scheme. By introducing the proviso to Regulation 28 pension was sought to be made pro rata in place of full pension. The basic concept of the scheme, therefore, underwent a change which also goes to show that the banks had sought to invoke its power of amending the scheme. Once the scheme is amended and/or an apprehension is created in the mind of the employees that they would not even receive the entire benefits as envisaged under the scheme, they were entitled to revoke their offers. Their action in our considered opinion is reasonable. It may be that some of the employees only opted for the provident fund benefit which did not undergo any amendment but the same would not change the attitude on the part of....
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....ing unilateral in character, it was observed: "The substantive body of this letter (which has been extracted in full in a foregoing part of this judgment) is comprised of three sentences only. In the first sentence, it is stated : "I beg to resign my office as Judge, High Court of Judicature at Allahabad". Had this sentence stood alone, or been the only content to his letter, it would operate as a complete resignation in praesenti, involving immediate relinquishment of the office and termination of his tenure as Judge. But this is not so. The first sentence is immediately followed by two more, which read : "I will be on leave till July 31, 1977. My resignation shall be effective on August 1, 1977". The first sentence cannot be divorced from the context of the other two sentences and construed in isolation. It has to be read along with the succeeding two which qualify it. Construed as a whole according to its tenor, the letter dated May 7, 1977, is merely an intimation or notice of the writer's intention to resign his office as Judge, on a future date, viz., August 1, 1977". In that case, thus, a resignation which was not in praesenti has been held to be capable of being w....
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....ely without rhyme or reason. Therefore, for the purpose of appeal we do not propose to consider the question whether sub-rule (4) of Rule 48-A of the Pension Rules is valid or not". Validity of such a rule was, therefore, not in question. As indicated hereinbefore, the bar of withdrawing the resignation was contained in the statutory rule and, thus Section 5 of the Indian Contract Act would not have been applicable in that case. However, it is advantageous to notice the following observations made in the said decision: "We do not see how this could not be a good and valid reason. It is true that he was resigning and in the notice for resignation he had not given any reason except to state that he sought voluntary retirement. We see nothing wrong in this. In the modern age we should not put embargo upon people's choice or freedom. If, however, the administration had made arrangements acting on his resignation or letter of retirement to make other employee available for his job, that would be another matter but the appellant's offer to retire and withdrawal of the same happened in such quick succession that it cannot be said that any administrative set up or arrangement....
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....astava's case(supra), it was held : "It is now well settled that even if the voluntary retirement notice is moved by an employee and gets accepted by the authority within the time fixed, before the date of retirement is reached, the employee has locus poenitentiae to withdraw the proposal for voluntary retirement. In Wg. Cdr T. Parthasarathy's case the fact of the matter was as follows: The Respondent submitted an application on 21-7-1985 praying for premature retirement with effect from 31-8-1986. He also furnished a certificate stating that he was aware that any request made by him for cancellation of his application for premature retirement would not be accepted. On 6-11-1985 he moved an amendment to earlier application stating that the actual date of his release could be decided taking into account the pensionary recommendations/ requirements of the Fourth Pay Commission's Report which was expected to come in November, 1985. He subsequently withdrew his offer on 19-2-1986. The Respondent received a letter dated 20th February, 1986 that he would prematurely retire from service with effect from 31-8-1986. On a Writ Petition moved by the Respondent before t....
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.... the date of acceptance of the voluntary retirement and the said relationship continued till 26-9-1997. The appellant admittedly sent two letters withdrawing his voluntary retirement before his actual date of release from service. Therefore, in view of the settled position of the law and the terms of the letter of acceptance, the appellant had locus poenitentiae to withdraw his proposal for voluntary retirement before the relationship of employer and employee came to an end". It may be that therein there did not exist a clause to the effect that once an option to voluntary retirement is accepted, the employee cannot withdraw the same, but the law laid down therein would apply herein also. The submission of learned Attorney General that as soon as an offer is made by an employee, the same would amount to resignation in praesenti cannot be accepted. The scheme was in force for a fixed period. A decision by the authority was required to be taken and till a decision was taken, the jural relationship of employer and employee continued and the concerned employees would have been entitled to payment of all salaries and allowances etc. Thus it cannot be said to be a case where the of....
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....rijendra Nath Bhargava's case (supra), the law is stated in following terms: "It clearly goes to show that if a party gives up the advantage he could take of a position of law it is not open to him to change and say that he can avail of that ground. In Dawsons Bank Ltd. case their Lordships were considering the question of waiver as a little different from estoppel and they observed as under: On the other hand, waiver is contractual, and may constitute a cause of action; it is an agreement to release or not to assert a right. If an agent, with authority to make such an agreement on behalf of his principal agrees to waive his principal's rights then (subject to any other question such as consideration) the principal will be bound, but he will be bound by contract. But in the context of the conclusion that we have reached on the basis of circumstances indicated above that it could not be held that the tenant had constructed this dochatti or balcony a wooden piece without the consent express or implied of the landlord, in our opinion, it is not necessary for us to dilate on the question of waiver any further and in this view of the matter we are not referring to the o....
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....ia. Furthermore, in the event it be held that the action of the appellants was arbitrary and unreasonable, the same would attract the wrath of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Furthermore, the right of the employee to continue in employment, which is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India could not have been taken away except in accordance with law. The decision of this Court in Har Shankar and Ors. v. The Dy. Excise and Taxation Commr. and Ors. [(1975) 1 SCC 737] is not apposite. In that case, this Court was concerned with the question as to whether enforcing the terms and conditions of a contract of supply of liquor which is a privilege would be permissible in a writ proceeding? In the aforementioned situation, the writ was held to be not maintainable. Such is not the position herein We may now deal with that part of the order of the Punjab & Haryana High Court whereby it has been held that the entire scheme is ultra vires being violative of sub-regulation 4 of Regulation 19 of the Regulations. We do not agree with the decision of the High Court on that count for more than one reason. Firstly, the scheme is not a part of the statutory regu....
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....e the Houses of the Legislature. Granting that the provisions of sub-s. (5) of s.26 by reason of the failure to place the rules before the Houses of Legislature were violated, we are of the view that sub-s.(5) of s. 26 having regard to the purposes for which it is made, and in the context in which it occurs, cannot be regarded as mandatory. The rules have been in operation since the year 1941 and by virtue of s.64 of the Gujarat Act 20 of 1964 they continue to remain in operation." In Atlas Cycle Industries' case (supra) the same view has been reiterated. We, therefore, are of the opinion that the scheme in question cannot be said to be bad in law. The Punjab and Haryana High Court in its impugned judgment has refused to grant any relief in ten writ petitions, wherein prayers were made to the effect that the bank should be directed to act in terms of the said scheme. The relief prayed for by the concerned petitioners were denied by the High Court on the ground that the same was not enforceable. We have not accepted that part of the judgment of the High Court. In that view of the matter, the High Court must now consider the claim of the said writ petitioners on merits a....