TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1972 (9) TMI 151
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....yee of the Transport Authority stood transferred to and become an officer and employee of the Corporation. Thus respondent no. 2 became an employee of the , Corporation from January, 1958. A disciplinary enquiry was started against respondent no. 2 by the Assistant General Manager (Transport) in 1962 and the Assistant General Manager decided to remove respondent no. 2 from service with effect from 16-5-1963. At that time an Industrial dispute was pending before respondent no. 1, the Presiding Officer of the Labour Court, and hence an application was made under section 3 3 (2) (b) of the Industrial Disputes Act for approval of the proposed action of removal of respondent no. 2 from ,service. Respondent no. 1 did not approve of the action on the ground that the Order for removal was made by the Assistant General Manager and not the General Manager who alone could have removed him from service. That order was challenged in the High Court which, however, agreed with the view taken by respondent no. 1. Hence the present appeal. The short point with which we are concerned is whether the Assistant General Manager of the, Delhi Transport Undertaking of the Municipal Corporation of De....
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.... direct that any power conferred or any duty imposed on him by or under this Act shall, in such circumstances and under such conditions, if any, as may be specified in the order, be exercised and performed also by any municipal officer or other municipal employee specified in the order." Section 504 so far as is relevant is as follows "Save as expressly provided in this Act and unless the context otherwise requires,- Any reference in this Act to the Commissioner............. shall be construed. (ii) in relation to any matter pertaining to the Delhi Transport Undertaking, as a reference to the General Manager (Transport).......... " Reading these two provisions together one sees that the General Manager (Transport) is entitled by order to direct that any power conferred or any duty imposed on him by or under the Act shall be exercised and performed also by any municipal officer or other municipal employee specified in the order. It is common ground that the General Manager (Transport) has by an order issued in 1961 delegated his power to the Assistant General Manager to appoint and, consequently, to remove from service a driver like respondent no. 2. Mr. Chagla,....
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....e time of his absorption in January, 1958 would be deemed to have been appointed under section 92 (1) (b) which would mean that he was appointed by the General Manager (Transport). Being so appointed, no subordinate of his including the Assistant General Manager (Transport) would be entitled to remove him from service in view of section 95(1) proviso. Section 95(1) dealing with disciplinary action against municipal officers and employees specifically provides that every officer or other municipal employee shall be liable to be punished in the several ways referred to in that section by such authority as may be prescribed by regulations. The definition of the word ' regulation' given in clause 48 of section (2) is as follows : "Regulation" means regulation made by the Corporation under this, Act by notification in the official gazette. In other words, the power of making regulations is vested in the Corporation and it is open to the Corporation to prescribe by regulation who would be the authority to punish any municipal officer or employee for his delinquency. Such a regulation may provide that an employee of the status of respondent no. 2 can be removed, for example, by the Ass....
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....rohibited by- statute from making it rests upon an illegal and improper foundation." It is, therefore, clear that a protection which is given to an employee by the statute cannot be nullified by rules and regulations authorised by the statute itself. In other words, any regulation made by the Corporation which would have authorised the Assistant General Manager to remove respondent no. 2 from service would have been inoperative qua respondent no. 2, as his appointing authority was the General Manager (Transport). The question now is whether, if the Corporation itself by any regulation could not have destroyed the above protection given by the statute to respondent no. 2, it would be appropriate to say that the General Manager by an order delegating his functions to the Assistant General Manager under sections 491 r/w 504 of the Corporation Act could destroy the protection. Since the General Manager (Transport) is an officer of the Corporation and subordinate to the Corporation, it will amount to saying that what the Corporation could not do by a regulation could be done by an officer of the Corporation by merely delegating his functions to the Assistant General Manager. The p....