TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1998 (1) TMI 512
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....ning, may be directed not to fill the posts of Lecturers in Pharmacy by direct recruitment and the same may be filled up, at least to he extent of fifty per cent, by promotion of Demonstrators working in the Department as is done in other Departments where posts of Readers are filled up, to the extent of fifty per cent by promoting the Lecturers, while the posts of Professors are filled up, to that extent, by promoting the Readers. It was pleaded before the High Court that the High Court that the Government, by its Order dated 31.1.77 and 23.12.77, had provided, in respect of all posts of Readers and Professors in the Government Medical Colleges, that they shall be filled up by direct recruitment to the extent of fifty per cent, and remaining fifty per cent would be filled up by promotion from amongst persons working as Lecturers in the Department provided they are qualified for the post. It was contended that the Government has not made bay provision for filling up the posts of Lecturers in the Department of Pharmacy by promotion from amongst the Demonstrators and that the Government had not passed any specific order to that effect although such an order should have been passed pa....
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....appellant and his other colleagues that they would be promoted as Lecturers and having itself taken steps to prepare the seniority list of Demonstrators, working in various Government Medical Colleges, was bound by its promise and, therefore, ought to have issued the necessary notification that the posts of Lecturers in the Department of Pharmacy would be Filled up to promotion of Demonstrators. Since this was not done the high court should itself have commanded the Government to issue such a notification so that the promise, which was made to the appellant, was fulfilled. It is contended that the Government had already issued such Notification in respect of the posts of Professors and Readers by providing that they would be filled up, to the extent of fifty per cent, by promotion of Readers and Lecturers and, therefore, in respect of the Department of Pharmacy, the same policy should have been adopted. It is not disputed that the posts of Lecturers in the Department of Pharmacy as also in other Departments of Pharmacy as also in other Departments of the Medical Colleges are filed up by direct recruitment. It is also not disputed that so far as Demonstrators are concerned, there....
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....nite and substantial character on the part of promisee, and which does induce such action or forbearance, and such promise is binding if injustice can be avoided only by enforcement of promise." These definitions in Black's Law Dictionary which are based on decided cases, indicate that before that Rule of "Promissory Estoppel" can be invoked, it has to be shown that there was a declaration or promise made which induced the party to whom the promise was made to alter its position to its disadvantage. In this backdrop, let us travel a little distance into the past to understand the evolution of the Doctrine of "Promissory Estoppel." Dixon, J., an Australian Jurist, in Grundt v. The Great Boulder Pty. Gold Mines Ltd. (1938) 59 CLR 641, laid down as under :- "It is often said simply that he party asserting the estoppel must have been induced to act to his detriment. Although substantially such a statement is correct a ns leads to misunderstanding, it does not bring out clearly the basal purpose to the doctrine, That purpose is to avoid or prevent a detriment to the party asserting the estoppel by compelling the opposite party to adhere to the assumption upon which the f....
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....pinning Co. vs. Ulhasnagar Municipal Council, AIR 1971 SC 1021 an d Radhakrishna vs. State of Bihar, AIR 1977 SC 1496. In Motilal Padampat Sugar Mills Co. Ltd. vs. State of U.P (1979) 2 SCR 641 = 1979 (2) SCC 409 = AIR 1979 SC 621, while r eiterating the above principles and quoting with approval the passage of Dixon, J., extracted above, it was observed as under :- "We do not think that in order to invoke the doctrine of promissory estoppel it is necessary for the promisee to show that he suffered detriment as a result of acting in reliance on the promise. But we may make it clear that if by detriment we mean injustice to the promisee which could result if the promisor were to recede from his promise then detriment would certainly come in as a necessary ingredient, The detriment in such a case is not some prejudice suffered by the promisee by acting on the promise, but he prejudice which would be caused to the promisees, if the promisor were allowed to go back on the promise." Thereafter, in successive cases, as for example, Union of India vs. Godfrey Philips India Ltd. (1985) 4 SCC 369 = 1985 Supp (3) SCR 123 = AIR 1986 SC 806; Delhi Cloth & General Mills Ltd. vs. Union ....