Mallikarjuna
Rao & Ors Vs. State of Andhra Pradesh
& Ors [1990] INSC 135 (10 April 1990)
Kuldip
Singh (J) Kuldip Singh (J) Agrawal, S.C. (J)
CITATION:
1990 AIR 1251 1990 SCR (2) 418 1990 SCC (2) 707 JT 1990 (3) 34 1990 SCALE
(1)705
ACT:
Andhra
Pradesh Animal Husbandry Service--Special Rules, 1977--Rule 1. Constitution of India----Article 226--Can the High Court/
Administrative Tribunal direct the State Govern- ment to frame or amend the
statutory rules affecting condi- tion of service in terms of its directions.
HEAD NOTE:
Andhra
Pradesh Animal Husbandry Service Rules, 1961, governed the conditions of
service of the Andhra Pradesh Animal Husbandry Department and under those Rules
Veterinary Assistant Surgeons were eligible for promotion to three categories
of Class IV posts. Rule 6 of the said Rules provided special eligibility
qualifications for those posts and only those Veterinary Assistant Surgeons
were considered for promotion to Class IV posts who fulfilled the qualifica- tions/specialised
training prescribed under Rule 6 of the 1961 Rules. Some of the Veterinary
Assistant Surgeons chal- lenged the vires of Rule 6 of 1961 Rules on the ground
that it was violative of Article 14 of the Constitution inasmuch as it
conferred arbitrary powers on the Government to pick and choose any person for
the specialised training and may deny such an opportunity to another person who
may be equal- ly or better suited for such training, there being no guide-
lines prescribed for selection of persons for specialised training. The main
contention was that at the time of re- cruitment all the Veterinary Assistant
Surgeons possessed Bachelor Degree in Veterinary Science and the special quali-
fication and training prescribed under Rule 6 could only be acquired after
joining as Veterinary Assistant Surgeon by only those Assistant Surgeons whom
the Government selected for the purpose.
The
High Court held Rule 6 of the 1961 Rules as intra vires but made certain
observations advising the Animal Husbandry Department to frame a rule for the
said Department and see that as far as possible the area of discretion on the
part of the authorities concerned is reduced if not eliminated altogether, so
far as the question of imparting specialised training as provided under Rule 6
was concerned.
Thereupon
the State Government amended Rule 6 of the 1961 Rules as a result whereof the
1961 Rules were superseded by the Andhra Pradesh Animal Husbandry
Service--Special Rules, 1977, Rule 1 whereof pro- 419 vided for the
constitution of the service. Class IV posts, which were re-designated as
Assistant Directors, were divid- ed into eight categories and Rule 2 provided
method of promotion from Class V to Class IV. Under those Rules Veter- inary
Assistant Surgeons who were Class V were only eligible for promotion to Class
IV in their respective categories.
That
is to say category I Class V was only eligible for promotion to category I
Class IV and similarly category 2 of Class V was eligible for category 2 of
Class IV and so on, and in this way common seniority of class V officers became
irrelevant, promotion being category-wise. Being dissatis- fied some officers
belonging to Class IV filed Representa- tion Petition before the Andhra Pradesh
Administrative Tribunal seeking a direction that the special rules be amended
or modified in terms of the observations made by the Andhra Pradesh High Court
in Civil Writ No. 4532 of 1971, referred to above whereby the said High Court
had declared Rule 6 of 1961 Rules as intra vires. The contention raised by the
petitioner was that promotions from Class V to Class IV be made on the basis of
seniority alone irrespective of the categories contemplated by 1977 Rules. The
Tribunal by its judgment allowed the petition and issued the directions asked
for by the petitioners. The Tribunal observed that not to speak of direction,
even an observation from the High Court was binding on the State Government
when the State Government had not chosen to get the said observation set aside
by the Supreme Court. Accordingly the Tribunal direct- ed the State to evolve a
proper and rational method of determination of seniority among the Veterinary
Assistant Surgeons in the matter of promotions to the next higher rank of
Assistant Director of Veterinary Surgeons.
Being
aggrieved, the State of Andhra
Pradesh and some of
the officers who have been affected by the High Court's judgment and who were
not parties before the High Court have filed these appeals.
The
following questions arose for determination: (1) can the High Court/Administrative
Tribunal direct the State Government to frame or amend the existing statutory
Rules to alter the conditions of service of the Civil servants in terms of the
directions, and (2) when there are specialized posts in a feeder cadre and also
in the higher cadre, can the Government restrict the promotions from feeder
cadre to the higher cadre only speciality wise irrespective of sen- iority.
Allowing
the Appeals and remanding the matter to the Tribunal for decision on other
points: this Court, 420
HELD:
The observations of the High Court which have been made as the basis for its
judgment by the Tribunal were only of advisory nature. The High Court was aware
of its limita- tions under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and as such
the learned Judge deliberately used the words 'advisa- ble' while making the
observations. It is neither legal nor proper for the High Courts or the
Administrative Tribunals to issue directions or advisory-sermons to the
executive in respect of the sphere which is exclusively within the domain of
the executive under the Constitution. [428E-F] The power under Article 309 of
the Constitution of India to frame rules is legislative power. This power under
the Constitution has to be exercised by the President or the Governor of a State
as the case may be. [429C] The High Court or the Administrative Tribunals
cannot issue a mandate to the State Government to legislate under Article 309
of the Constitution of India. The Courts cannot usurp the functions assigned to
the executive under the Constitution and cannot even indirectly require the execu-
tive to exercise its rule making power in any manner. The Courts cannot assume
to itself a supervisory role over the rule making power of the executive under
Article 309.
[429D-E]
The Administrative Tribunal in the judgment under appeal transgressed its
limits in issuing the impugned directions.
[429F]
Narender Chand Hem Raj & Ors. v. Lt. Governor, Union Territory, Himachal Pradesh & Ors., [1972] 1 SCR 940; State of Himachal Pradesh v. A parent of a student of medical
college, Simla & Ors., [1985] 3 S.C.C. 169 and Asif Hameed & Ors. v.
State of Jammu & Kashmir & Ors., [1989] Supp. 2 S.C.C. 364, referred
to.
CIVIL
APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 3677 of 1987.
From
the Judgment and Order dated 4.7.1985 of the Andhra Pradesh Administrative
Tribunal, Hyderabad in Representation Petition No. 578
of 1978.
WITH Civil
Appeal Nos. 15 19/1986 and 124/1987.
421
P.P. Rao, G.L.Sanghi, R.K. Jain, P. Rama Reddy, P.A. Choudhary, B. Kanta Rao,
Mrs. S.R. Setia, G.N. Rao, Attar Singh, K.V.G. Rama Rao, Mrs. Sharda Devi, K.
Ram Kumar, C.S. Vaidyanathan, A.V.V. Nair and C. Prabhakar for the appearing
parties.
The
Judgment of the Court was delivered by KULDIP SINGH, J. The questions arising
for our consider- ation in these appeals are as under:
(1)
Can the High Court/Administrative Tribunal direct the State Government to frame
or amend the existing statutory rules to alter the conditions of service of the
civil serv- ants in terms of the directions? (2) When there are specialised
posts in a feeder cadre and also in the higher cadre, can the Government
restrict the promotions from feeder cadre to the higher cadre only spe- ciality-wise
irrespective of the seniority? The conditions of service of the Andhra Pradesh
Animal Husbandry Department were initially governed by the Andhra Pradesh
Animal Husbandry Service Rules, 1961 (hereinafter called 1961 Rules). Under
these Rules Veterinary Assistant Surgeons were eligible for promotion to three
different categories of posts called class IV posts and Rule 6 provid- ed
special eligibility qualifications for those posts. Only those Veterinary
Assistant Surgeons were considered for promotion to class IV posts who
fulfilled the qualifica- tions/specialised training prescribed under Rule 6 of
the 1961 Rules.
Some
of the Veterinary Assistant Surgeons challenged the vires of Rule 6 of the 1961
Rules by way of Civil Writ Petition No. 4532 of 1971 in the Andhra Pradesh High
Court.
It was
alleged that at the time of recruitment all the Veterinary Assistant Surgeons
possessed Bachelor Degree in Veterinary Science and the special qualifications
and train- ing prescribed under Rule 6 could only be acquired after joining as
Veterinary Assistant Surgeon and that also at the discretion of the Government.
It was open to the Government to choose any person for the specialised training
and may deny such an opportunity to another person who may be equal- ly or
better suited for such training. Since the imparting of specialised qualifications/training
was under the control of the Government it could pick and choose persons for
the purpose and in the process making favoured persons eligible for pro- 422
motion to class IV posts under the 1961 Rules. Learned Single Judge by his
judgment dated August 24, 1973 rejected the contentions of the writ petitioners
in the following words:
"I
do not find it possible to agree with the broad conten- tion that Rule 6 is
ultra vires and unconstitutional for the reasons stated by the petitioners. As
stated earlier, Rule 6 merely prescribed certain qualifications for promotion
to certain posts by way of experience in a particular specia- lised service of
undergoing training in a particular field.
It
cannot be argued and in fairness to the learned counsel for the petitioners it
may be stated, it was not argued, that is not permissible to prescribe such
qualifications.
The
main reason for contending that Rule 6 is ultra vires was not that it
prescribed certain qualifications but be- cause in the absence of any guiding
principles the Govern- ment would be enable to pick and choose persons who
would be given opportunities to obtain those qualifications which would enable
them to get promotion. This circumstance cannot in my view render the rule
itself ultra vires. If the Gov- ernment or the Authorities concerned posted
certain employ- ees in the special sections or gave them opportunity to undergo
a service in a special issued section for a particu- lar period or denied
similar opportunity to deserving candi- dates with the oblique motive of
preferring one set of persons to another for the purposes of promotion, it was
open to the aggrieve officer to challenge the act of the Government in each
particular case. The postings and direc- tions have been made from time to time
from 1962 and none of these petitioners approached this court questioning the
denial of the posting as the case may be all these years." .....
"1
therefore see no reason for declaring Rule 6 as ultra vires and
unconstitutional." While holding that Rule 6 was intra vires, the learned
Judge also made the following observations:
"Though
I have held that Rule 6 is not unconstitutional there cannot be any doubt that
as this stand at present, it is left to the discretion of the authorities
concerned to post any particular Veterinary Surgeon to any Special Sec- tion or
423 to give him training in any advanced course. It is not surprising that such
a state of affairs should result in dis-satisfaction and suspicion in the mind
of the officers concerned. Development of animal husbandry is extremely
important in the interests of economy and a satisfied and contented service is
a pre-requisite for such development.
It is
not advisable to it that a particular authority howev- er high placed he may be
to choose persons at his sweet will and pleasure to undergo training in a
particular field or have service in a particular sections especially when such
training and service would effect the chances of promotion to higher posts. In
this connected, it may be noted that in regard to the Andhra Pradesh
Agricultural Service, it was realised that condition of separate section within
the same service results in great injustice as several senior offi- cers would
be deprived of their promotion while the junior who happened to work in a specialised
section get early promotion. By G.O. dated 27.6.1972 all these sections were
merged into one unit and all the posts were brought under a common set of
rules. It would be advisable to frame a simi- lar rule for the Animal Husbandry
Department also and see that as far as possible the area of discretion on the
part of the authorities concerned is reduced if not eliminated
altogether." The State Government amended Rule 6 of the 1961 Rules on May
10, 1976 by which the categories of Class IV posts were increased to thirteen.
The 1961 Rules were superseded by the Andhra Pradesh Animal Husbandary
Service--Special Rules, 1977 (hereinafter called the Special Rules) which came
into force on September 24, 1977. Rule 1 of the Special Rules provides for the
constitution of the service. Class IV posts, which were re-designated as
Assistant Directors, .were divided into eight categories.
Similarly,.Veterinary
Assistant Surgeons come under the heading class V and are divided into seven
categories. Rule 2 of the Special Rules provides method of promotion from class
V to Class IV. The relevant provisions of these Rules are reproduced as under:
1.
CONSTITUTION:
Class
IV.
Category
(1) Assistant Directors of Animal Husbandry (formerly 424 District Veterinary
Officers & Livestock Officers Incharge Key Villages and Regional Cattle
Development Units) includ- ing Superintendents, Veterinary Hospitals & Poly
Clinics, Assistant Directors of Animal Husbandry, Liverfluke Control Scheme;
Anti Liverfluke Control Scheme; Dairy Extension Rinderpest; Animal By-Products
Plant, Zoo Park, Asst. Direc- tor of Animal Husbandry (Technical in Directorate
and Gazet- ted Instructors in Animal Husbandry, Village Development Officers
Training Centre.
Category
(2) Assistant Directors of Animal Husbandry, Government Livestock Farms
including Assistant Directors of Animal Husbandry Progeny Testing Unit, Feed
Mixing Plant; Livestock Assistants Training Centre; Goshalas and Asst. Director
of Animal Husbandry (Farms) in Directorate.
Category
(3) Lecturers, Institute of Animal Reproduction, including Asst. Director of
Animal Husbandry (Cattle Devel- opment) and Centralised Semen Collection
Centre.
Category
(4) Assistant Directors of Animal Husbandry, Sheep Farms including Assistant Directors
of Animal Husbandry (Sheep Development) and Officers of similar rank in Sheep
Section.
Category
(5) Assistant Directors of Animal Husbandry, Pig Breeding Station; Piggery
Development Officer and Officers of similar rank in piggery section.
Category
(6) Asst. Directors of Animal Husbandry, Regional Poultry Demonstration and
Research Farm and Asst. Directors of Animal Husbandry, poultry Marketing Centres.
Category
(7) Asst. Directors of Animal Husbandry (Formerly Disease Investigation
Officers and Research Officers) an Officers of similar rank in Vety. Biological
Institute, Hyderabad; Asst. Directors of Animal Husbandry, Animal Health Centres,
and Officers of similar rank in Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad such as
Public Health Veterinarian.
425
Category (8) Asst. Director of Animal Husbandry (Statis- tics) Class V.
Category
(1) Veterinary Officers.
Category
(2) Veterinary Officers (Cattle Farms) Category (3) Asst. Lecturers, Institute
of Animal Reproduc- tion and Veterinary Officers, Centralised Semen Collection Centres.
Category
(4) Veterinary Officers (Sheep Farms) Category (5) Veterinary Officers, Pig
Breeding Stations.
Category
(6) Veterinary Officers, Poultry Farms.
Category
(7) Veterinary Officers in Veterinary Biological and Research Institute; Animal
Health Centres, Clinical Laboratories and Municipal Corporation of Hydera
bad." 2. APPOINTMENT:
Class
IV:
Category
(1) Asst. Directors of ... (i) ...
(ii) by
promotion from among the Veteri- nary included in category (I) of class V of
the said service.
(iii)
.........
Category
(2) Asst. Directors of ... (i) ...
(ii) by
promotion from among the Vety.
Officers
inclu- ded in Cat.(2) of Class V of the said Service (iii) 426 Category (3)
Lecturers (i) by promotion from among the Vety.
Officers
included in Cat. (3) of Class V of the said service (iii) ...
Category
(4) Asst. Directors of ... (i) ...
(ii) by
promotion from among the Vety.
Officers
inclu- ded in Cat.(3) of Class V of the said service (iii) ....
Category
(5) Asst. Directors of ... (i) ...
(ii) by
promotion from among the Vety.
Officers
inclu- ded in Cat. (5) of class V of the said service (iii) ....
Category
(6) Asst. Directors of ... (i) ...
(ii) by
promotion from among the Vety. Officers included in Cat.
(6) of
class V of the said ser- vice Category (7) Asst. Directors of ... (i) ...
(ii) by
promotion from among the Vety. Officers included in Cat (7) of class V of the
said service Category (8) Asst. Directors of ... (i) ...
(ii) by
promotion Vety. Officers in Class V of Andhra 427 Pradesh Animal Husban- dry
Service (iii) ...
It is
obvious from the provisions of the Special Rules reproduced above that the
Veterinary Assistant Surgeons who are class V are only eligible for promotion
to class IV in their respective categories. Category 1 class V is only eligible
for promotion to category 1 class IV and similarly category 2 of class V is
eligible for category 2 of class IV and so on. Although there is one common
seniority of class V officers but the promotion being category-wise the
seniority becomes irrelevant as a senior man in category 1 class V cannot be
promoted to any other category in class IV except category 1 and 8.
M. Srinivasan
and 44 other class V officers filed Repre- sentation Petition No. 578 of 1978
before the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal seeking a direction that the
Special Rules be amended or modified in terms of the observations made by the
Andhra Pradesh High Court in Civil Writ Petition No. 4532 of 1971. In other words.,
it was prayed that the State Government be directed to merge all the respective
categories in class IV and class V of the Special Rules and promotions from
class V to class IV be made on the basis of seniority alone. The Administrative
Tribunal by its judgment dated July 4, 1985
allowed the Petition and issued the directions asked for by the petitioners.
The Tribunal in its judgment posed the question to be decided in the following
manner:
"The
question to be decided is whether the Depart- ment of Animal Husbandry is
justified in not following the directions of the A.P. High Court referred to
above." The Tribunal then answered the question as under:
"It
must be observed that not to speak of direc- tion, even an observation from the
High Court of the land is binding on the State Government when the State
Government has not chosen to set aside the said observation in the Supreme
Court.
The
petitioners are, therefore, entitled to the relief asked for and I find no good
reasons not to grant the same. The R.P., is accordingly allowed and once again direc-
tions are issued to the respondents to evolve proper and rational 428 method of
determination of seniority among the Veterinary Assistant Surgeons in the
matter of promotions to the next higher rank of Assistant Director of Veterinary
Surgeons in the light of the one framed under G.O.Ms. No. 1 supra.'' It may be
mentioned that G.O. Ms. No. 1 dated 1.1.76 which was directed to be adopted and
followed in the Animal Husbandry Department related to the Agriculture
Department.
It was
argued before the Tribunal that because of functional differences between the
two departments it would not be possible to adopt the conditions of service
prevalent in the Agriculture Department. The Tribunal, however, issued the
above quoted directions primarily on the ground that the State Government was
bound to follow the observations of the High Court made in Civil Writ Petition
No. 4532 of 1971.
The
State of Andhra Pradesh has challenged the judgment of the
Tribunal in Civil Appeal No. 1519 of 1986, Civil Appeal No. 124/1987 and Civil
Appeal No. 3677 of 1987 have been filed by the officers who have been affected
by the judgment of the Tribunal but were not parties before the Tribunal.
The
observations of the High Court which have been made as the basis for its
judgment by the Tribunal were only of advisory nature. The High Court was aware
of its limitations under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and as such
the learned Judge deliberately used the word "advisable" while making
the observations. It is neither legal nor proper for the High Courts or the
Administrative Tribunals to issue directions or advisory-sermons to the
executive in respect of the sphere which is exclusively within the domain of
the executive under the constitution. Imagine the execu- tive advising the
judiciary in respect of its power of judicial review under the constitution. We
are bound to react scowlingly to any such advice.
This
Court relying on Narender Chand Hem Raj & Ors. v. Lt. Governor, Union Territory, Himachal Pradesh & Ors., [1972] 1 SCR 940 and State of
Himachal Pradesh v. A parent of a student of medical
college, Simla and Ors., [1985] 3 SCC 169 held in Asif Hameed & Ors. v.
State of Jammu & Kashmir & Ors., [1989] Supp. 2 SCC 364, as under:
"When
a State action is challenged, the function of the court is to examine the
action in accordance with law 429 and to determine whether the legislature or
the executive has acted within the powers and functions assigned under the
constitution and if not, the court must strike-down the action. While doing so
the court must remain within its self-imposed limits. The court sits in
judgment on the action of a coordinate branch of the Government. While
exercising power-of judicial review of administrative ac- tion, the court is not
an appellate authority. The constitu- tion does not permit the court to direct
or advise the executive in matters of policy or to sermonize qua any matter
which under the constitution lies within the sphere of legislature or
executive." The Special Rules have been framed under Article 309 of the
Constitution of India. The power under Article 309 of the Constitution of India
to frame rules is the legislative power. This power under the constitution has
to be exercised by the President or the Governor of a State as the case may be.
The High Courts or the Administrative Tribunals cannot issue a mandate to the
State Government to legislate under Article 309 of the Constitution of India.
The Courts cannot usurp the functions assigned to the executive under the
constitution and cannot even indirectly require the execu- tive to exercise its
rule making power in any manner. The Courts cannot assume to itself a
supervisory role over the rule making power of the executive under Article 309
of the Constitution of India.
We are
therefore, of the view that the High Court in Civil Writ Petition No. 4532/71
and the Administrative Tribunal in the judgment under appeal transgressed its
limits in issuing the impugned directions. We set aside the judgment of the
Tribunal and dismiss the Representation Petition No. 578/78 filed by M. Srinivasan
and 44 others to the extent indicated above.
Mr.
C.S. Vaidyanathan, learned counsel, appearing for the respondents, however,
contends that the Special Rules are arbitrary and are violative of Articles 14
and 16 of the Constitution of India. He contends that at the time of initial
recruitment to Class V the Government at its discre- tion picks-up persons for
appointment to any of the catego- ries. According to him neither there are any statutory
rules or executive instructions providing options to class V officers to join
category of their choice nor in fact any such options were given at the
relevant time. He has further argued that the posts in seven categories of
class V are inter-transferable. He invited our attention to the docu- 430 ments
on record showing transfers from one category to another. Mr. Madhava Reddy
learned counsel appearing for the State of Andhra Pradesh on the other hand has controverted the above arguments.
According to him options were not only given at the time of initial recruitment
into class V serv- ice but also subsequently as and when the rules were amend- ed.
He categorically denied that the posts in various cate- gories are
interchangeable. The learned counsel on both sides wanted us to go into the
various documents in support of their respective contentions. We do not have
before us the factual-matrix to appreciate the argument of Mr. Vaidya- nathan
that the special Rules are arbitrary. We, however, find from the judgment under
appeal that all these points were raised before the Tribunal in one form or the
other but the Tribunal based its judgment on the observations of the High Court
in Civil Writ Petition No. 4532/71 and did not go into any other point.
While
setting aside the judgment under appeal we remit the case to the Andhra Pradesh
Administrative Tribunal for decision on other points as indicated by, us or as
may be raised by the parties. The Tribunal shall give further opportunity to
the parties to file additional affidavits/documents. We request the Tribunal to
decide the matter expeditiously and if possible within three months.
The
appeals are disposed of in the above terms with no order as to costs.
Y. Lal
Appeals allowed.
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