TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1980 (8) TMI 208
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....neral of India (C & AG). The story of his career was snapped when he was compulsorily retired 'in the public interest' on August 27, 1975 under; F.R. 56(j)(i) by the Accountant General (A.G.). Had he run his full course, his continuance until April 1980 would have been sure. Finding himself an uneasy casualty when the easy axe of F.R. 56(j)(i) fell on him, the appellant challenged the premature retirement in the High Court only to be greeted with a dismissal in limine. Here he has arrived by special leave and argued before us that his forced retirement is dubious and violative, in many ways, of F.R. 56(j)(i). The Fundamental Rules govern the Central Civil Services and ensure the career security which is the sine qua non of contended service. But potential compulsory retirement under F.R. 56(j)(i) haunting the afternoon of official life injects an awesome uncertainty which makes even the honest afraid, the efficient tremble and almost everyone genuflect- not a happy prospect for a civil servant too young to sit idle and too old to get a new job. A jetsam has no option but to become driftwood or join the other profession where everyone, desirable and undesirable, has a cha....
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....r removed by an authority "subordinate to that by which he was appointed". The appellant, by parity of reasoning, argues that the A.G., being subordinate to the C & AG, has no power to retire him. The fallacy in the argument lies in the confusion between 'dismissal' and 'compulsory retirement'. The two cannot he equated and the constitutional bar cannot be operative. Therefore, we have to find, on an independent enquiry, as to who is the appropriate authority under r. 56(j)(i). Under Note 1 to F.R. 56, the authority entitled to make substantive appointments is the appropriate authority to retire government servants under the said rules. From this Note, which is virtually a part of the rule, the respondents contend that the power of the appropriate authority in respect of Accounts Officers like the appellant has been vested in the A.G. by Notification of the Ministry of Finance dated 29-11-1972. Since the A.G. has been clothed, from that date, with power to appoint substantively Accounts Officers, he has become the appropriate authority for compulsory retirement even though the appellant Accounts Officer had been appointed by the & AG prior to 29-11-1972. In the ligh....
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....lic interest' if unlimited discretion is regarded acceptable for making an order of premature retirement, it will be the surest menace to public interest and must fail for unreasonableness, arbitrariness and disguised dismissal. To constitutionalise the rule, we must so read it as to free it from the potential for the mischiefs we have just projected. The exercise of power must be bona fide and promote public interest. There is no demonstrable ground to infer mala fides here and the only infirmity alleged which deserves serious notice is as to whether the order has been made in. public interest. When an order is challenged and its validity depends on its being supported by public interest the State must disclose the material so that the court may be satisfied that the order is not bad for want of any material whatever which, to a reasonable man reasonably instructed in the law, is sufficient to sustain the grounds of 'public interest' justifying forced retirement of the public servant. Judges cannot substitute their judgment for that of the Administrator but they are not absolved from the minimal review well-settled in administrative law and founded on constitutional ob....
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....nstituting the following officers: 1. Accountant General 2. Senior Deputy Accountant General (IC) 3. Senior Deputy Accountant General (Administration) Punjab 4. Deputy Accountant General (Administration) Office of the Accountant General, Haryana. The said Committee reviewed the service record of the appellant and found adverse entries in various confidential reports, and inter-alia, held that the appellant was unable to perform his duty efficiently and effectively in the post held by him and recommended compulsory retirement under FR 56(j)(i). The appellant was accordingly retired by the Accountant General on 27-8-1975". We are not inclined to agree with the appellant that the Reviewing Committee is an illegal body and taking its recommendations into consideration vitiates the A.G.'s order. On the other hand, it is clear that the decision to retire is surely that of the A.G., and the Reviewing Committee's presence is persuasive, not decisive, and prevents the opinionatedness of one by the collective recommendations of a few. Now we will enter the substantive dispute and search for the presence of public interest as the basis of the impugned order. The A....
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.... time of the review of the retention of the petitioner and other accounts officers, a Committee consisting of Accountant General, Senior Deputy Accountant General (IC), Senior Deputy Accountant General, (Admn.), Office of the Accountant General, Haryana was constituted to review the cases of the Accounts officers for their retention, on their attaining the age of 50 years. The said Committee was constituted on 23-8-1975. The said Committee after careful assessment of the performance of the employees concerned depicted in their confidential reports found that the persons including the Petitioner who were not able to perform their duty efficiently and effectively in the posts held by them at that time and the Committee therefore recommended to retire the Petitioner among others under F.R 56(j)(i). A copy of the minutes of the meeting held is annexed herewith as Annexure Y. The Reviewing Committee report runs thus: "The Committee after a careful assessment of the performance of the employees concerned as depicted in their confidential reports have come to the conclusion that the persons mentioned below are not able to perform efficiently and effectively the duties of the posts held....