TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1975 (2) TMI 133
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....s and duties under the Act. One of such functions and duties was grant of proprietary rights to quasi permanent allottees of agricultural land and houses in the rural areas in the State of Punjab. The President of India, therefore, sanctioned the creation of certain posts-which included two posts of Assistant Director to be designated as Assistant Settlement Commissioner under the Act- for a period of six months from the date of promulgation of the Rules framed under the Act "for the work connected with the conversion of quasi-permanent allottees into permanent ones" and the Central Government, by its letter dated 18th April, 1955 conveyed this sanction to the State Government. This letter contained a direction that the over-all expenditure in connection with these posts sanctioned by the President of India should not exceed Rs. 6.50 lacs and it would be shared between the Central Government and the State Government in the ratio of 50-50. It was also suggested in this letter that the names of officers appointed as Assistant Directors and Naib Tehsildars should be intimated in due course for issue of necessary notifications under the provisions of the Act. The State Government, by i....
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....erforming the functions assigned to an Assistant Settlement Commissioner by or under the Act". The Central Government also issued another notification of the same date in exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Act directing Inter alia that the first respondent, who has been appointed under that sub-section to the post of Assistant Settlement Commissioner, shall perform the functions assigned to an Assistant Settlement Commissioner by or under the Act "only in respect of agricultural land situated in the State of Punjab in rural area as defined in Clause (f) of Rule 2 of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Rules, 1955, including houses, if any, in any such area allotted along with such lands". A copy of the notification dated 3rd September, 1955 appointing the first respondent to the post of Assistant Settlement Commissioner was forwarded by the Central Government to the State Government along with its letter dated 3/7th September, 1955. The Central Government also addressed a letter dated 21st September 1955 to the State Government pointing out that since the 1st Respondent was to work as a whole time Assistant Settlement Commiss....
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....ance of the post received from the Punjab Government was futile and could not be acted upon until receipt of sanction from the Central Government, and by his letter dated 21st April, 1956, pointed out to the State Government that the pay slip in favour of the first respondent for the period from 18th January, 1956 to 29th February, 1956 was being issued, but so far as the pay for the subsequent period upto 30th April, 1956 was concerned, "the sanction to the continuance of the post of Assistant Settlement Commissioner upto 30.4.1956 which has been received in this office from the Assistant Secretary to the Government of Punjab, Finance Department will be acted upon on receipt of "Sanction" from the Government of India as the post was created by them" and an attested copy of the same, if received, "may please be sent to enable this office to issue a pay slip to the officer upto 30-4-1956". In the meantime, however, the Government of Punjab, by an order dated 17th April, 1956, purported to terminate the service of the first respondent with immediate effect and directed that the first respondent would be paid one month's salary in lieu of notice. The first respondent thereafter ma....
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....e first respondent with costs. 7. The first respondent preferred an appeal to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. The only contention put forward on behalf of the first respondent at the hearing of the appeal was that the first respondent was servant of the Union of India and not of the State of Punjab and the order dated 17th April, 1956 passed by the State of Punjab was, therefore, ineffectual to terminate the service of the first respondent and it was only on 18th February, 1959 that his service was validly terminated by the Central Government by its memorandum dated 10th January, 1959 and he was accordingly entitled to arrears of salary and allowances from 21st April, 1956 to 10th February, 1959. This contention found favour with the High Court and taking the view that the first respondent was a servant of the Union of India and not of the State of Punjab, the High Court held that his service was validly terminated only from 10th February, 1959 under the memorandum of the Central Government dated 10th January, 1959 and accordingly passed a decree in favour of the first respondent against the Union of India for Rs. 22,927.34P. representing -arrears of salary and allowances ....
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....d to them "by or under the Act and the Central Government is also given, the power by general or special order to provide for the distribution or allocation of work to be performed by them under the Act. The post of Assistant Settlement Commissioner-that being the post with which we are concerned in this appeal-is, therefore, clearly a post under the Union of India to which appointment is to be made by the Central Government. It was in exercise of this power conferred by Section 3, Sub-section (1) that Central Government appointed the first respondent to the post of Assistant Settlement Commissioner by its order dated 3rd September, 1956. The Government of Punjab had no power to make appointment to the post of Assistant Settlement Commissioner by its order dated 3rd September, 1955. The Government of Punjab had no power to make appointment to the post of Assistant Settlement Commissioner, unless such power was conferred upon it by virtue of a direction given by the Central Government under Section 34, but admittedly there was no such direction in the present case. In fact, the Central Government, by its letter dated 18th April, 1955 requested the State Government to intimate "the &....
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...., 1955, did not need validation from the order of the Government or Punjab dated 30th November, 1955. In fact, when the question arose in regard to issue of pay slip in favour of the first respondent for the period subsequent to 29th February, 1956, when the original sanction of the President of India for the post of Assistant Settlement Commissioner expired, the Accountant General, Punjab pointed out in his letter dated 21st April, 1956 that the sanction to the continuance of the post given by the Punjab Government was meaningless and ineffective and it could not be acted upon until receipt of sanction to the continuance of the post from the Central Government since "the post was created by them." It would therefore, be seen that the post -of Assistant Settlement Commissioner was created by the Central Government and the expenditure in connection with it was to be met out of the funds provided by the Central Government and it was the Central Government alone which was competent to make appointment to the post and in fact, the first respondent was appointed to the post by the Central Government by its order dated 3rd September, 1956. It this be the correct position, as it undeniabl....