Hav Bhagat
Singh Vs. State of Haryana & Anr [1996] INSC 409 (15 March 1996)
Bharucha
S.P. (J) Bharucha S.P. (J) Verma, Jagdish Saran (J) Venkataswami K. (J) Bharucha,
J.
CITATION:
1996 AIR 1705 1996 SCALE (2)851
ACT:
HEAD NOTE:
WITH Writ
Petition (C) No. 571 of 1994
The
appeal aforementioned impugns the order of summary dismissal of a writ petition
filed by the appellant in the High Court of Punjab & Haryana. Though the
order only says "dismissed", it was clearly passed by reason of the
judgment of this Court in Dhan Singh & Ors. vs. State of Haryana & Ors., 1991 Supp. (2) S.C.C.
190. The writ petition arises upon facts similar to those in the appeal and it
seeks re- consideration of the aforementioned judgment.
The
facts that we state are of the appeal. The appellant was enrolled as a Sepoy in
the Army on 30th
January 1959. He
served in the Army until some date in the year 1976, by which time he had been
promoted to the post of Hawaldar. In 1978 the appellant joined the service of
the State of Haryana (the first respondent) as a clerk.
The
Government of Punjab had framed the Punjab National Emergency (Concession)
Rules, 1965, and they were adopted by the State of Haryana when it was formed. These Rules
gave benefits to persons who had been in military service before joining
Government service. "Military service" was defined in Rule 2 thus :
"For
the purposes of these Rules the expression Military Service means enrolled or
Commissioned service in any of the three Wings of the Indian Armed Forces
(including service as a Warrant Officer) rendered by a person during the period
of operation of the proclamation of Emergency made by the President under
Article 352 of the Constitution of India on October 26, 1962 or such other
service as may hereafter be declared as Military Service for the purposes of
these Rules. Any period of Military Training followed by Military Service shall
also be reckoned as Military Service".
On 4th August, 1976, the aforesaid definition was
amended by the State of Haryana so that it read thus :
"For
the purposes of these rules the expression `Military Service' means the service
rendered by a person who had been enrolled or commissioned during the period of
operation of the proclamation of Emergency made by the President under Article
352 of the Constitution of India on October 26, 1962 in any of the 3 Wings of
the Indian Armed Forces (including the service as a Warrant Officer) such other
service as may hereafter be declared as Military service for the purpose of
these Rules. Any period of Military Training followed by Military service shall
also be reckoned as Military Service." It will be seen that military
service as originally defined meant service, enrolled or commissioned, in the
armed forces rendered during the period of operation of the Emergency.
(The
Emergency was that proclaimed in 1962). By the amended provision military
service meant only the service that was rendered by a person who was enrolled
or commissioned in the armed forces during the period the Emergency remained in
force. The amendment, therefore, curtailed the definition of military service
and excluded therefrom those who had been enrolled or commissioned before the
proclamation of the Emergency and had served during its operation.
The
validity of the retrospective application of the amended definition of military
service came to be considered by this Court in Ex. Capt. K.C. Arora and Anr. vs.
State of Haryana and Ors., 1984-3 S.C.C. 281. The
appellants were persons who had already entered Government service. It was held
that the amendment "Restricted the benefits of military service upto January 10, 1968, the date on which the first
emergency was lifted with the result that the vested rights which had accrued
to the petitioners in 1969, 1970 and 1971 have been taken away". The
notification amending the definition of the expression `military service' in
Rule 2 was declared to be ultra vires the Constitution insofar as it
prejudicially affected persons who had already acquired rights.
The
validity of the amended definition came up for the consideration of this Court
again in Dhan Singh & Ors. vs. State of Haryana & Ors., 1991 Supp (2)
S.C.C. 190, and this is the judgment whose reconsideration is sought. It was
argued that the amendment confining military service to those who had joined
during the operation of the Emergency, that is, between 26th October, 1962, ant 10th January, 1968, and denying the same benefit to those who had joined prior
to the proclamation of the Emergency was unreasonable, arbitrary and based on
no classification. The contention was repelled. It was held that the State of Haryana could amend the Rules and withdraw
the concession in exercise of the power conferred under Article 309 of the
Constitution. It was open to the State to lay down any rule for determining
seniority in service and the court could not interfere unless it resulted in
inequality of opportunity among employees belonging to the same class. When a
rule was challenged as denying equal protection, the question for determination
was not whether it resulted in inequality but whether there was some difference
which bore a just and reasonable relation to the object of the legislation. The
court had to examine whether the classification rested upon differential
discriminating the persons or things grouped from those left out and whether
such differential had a reasonable relation t the object sought to be achieved.
The Emergency had been imposed in 1962 on account of the aggression by Chinese
forces on Indian territory. In order to attract young men to
join military service at this critical juncture, the Central and State
Governments had promised them benefits. The young men who had joined the
military service during the Emergency and those who were already in service and
had been compelled to serve during the Emergency formed two distinct classes.
Those who had joined the army before the proclamation of the Emergency had
chosen the career voluntarily and their service during the Emergency was as a
matter of course. Those who had enrolled or were commissioned during the
Emergency, on the other hand, had, on account of the call of the nation, joined
the army at a critical juncture to save the motherland. The latter formed a
class by themselves and could not be equated to those who had joined the army before
the proclamation of the Emergency. Benefits had been promised to persons who
had heeded the call of the nation at that critical juncture because they had
foregone job opportunities. The differential was, therefore, intelligible and
had a direct nexus to the object sought to be achieved. The amendment could
not, therefore, be held to be discriminatory or arbitrary.
On 7th
October, 1991, the Chief Secretary of the State of Haryana addressed a circular
letter which referred to the judgment in Dhan Singh's case and clarified that
the benefits of military service "may not be withdrawn from those
Ex-servicemen who had joined the State Services prior to the amendment of the
rules vide Haryana Government, Notification No.GSR 182/Const./Art.309/Amd(2)/76,
dated the 4th August, 1976 even if they had joined the military services before
emergency i.e. 26.10.1962. However, the benefit of Military service granted to
those Ex-servicemen who joined army before 26.10.1962 and were appointed to
State services after the issue of Notification dated 4.8.76 may
withdrawn".
Learned
counsel for the appellant submitted that the judgment in Dhan Singh's case
required reconsideration because there was discrimination amongst the
homogeneous class of servicemen. He also submitted that, by issuing the
circular letter dated 7th October, 1991, the State of Haryana was purporting to
regulate the discharge of military personnel without taking into consideration
the fact that it was necessary to maintain a minimum strength thereof. Our attention
was invited to Rules 7, 8 & 9 of the said Rules and it was submitted that,
regardless of the curtailment of the definition of military service by the aforestated
amendment, some persons remained unaffected thereby, so that there was
discrimination.
Rules
6 & 7 of the said Rules relate to the period spent by a Government employee
on military service. Rule 8 deals with a temporary Government servant who,
after return from military service, is employed in Government service.
The
appellant was not a Government employee, permanent or temporary, before he was
enrolled in military service and we are, therefore, not called upon to
determine the effect of Rules 6, 7 and 8. We may, however, point out that each
of these rules uses the expression "military service" and that
expression in these rules must be construed only as defined by the amendment.
The circular letter dated 7th October, 1991,
sets out what the combined effect of the cases of K.C. Arora and Dhan Singh is.
There is no question of the State attempting to regulate the discharge of
military personnel thereby.
The
Rules offered benefits to those who joined State Government service after
having seen military service during the Emergency. It was open to the State to
withdraw the offer, but not qua those who had already accepted the offer and
joined the State Government service. Hence was rendered the decision in K.C. Arora's
case. The State Government did not withdraw the offer wholly but restricted it
to those who had enrolled or were commissioned in the armed forces during the
Emergency. The State Government was entitled to do so.
In our
view, there is a clear and intelligible difference between those who had
already chosen the armed forces as a career when the Emergency was declared and
those who, in response to the nation's call, joined the armed forces after the
Emergency was declared. It was is the country's interest at the critical
juncture to make service in the armed forces attractive and compensate those
who would otherwise have chosen other vocations. The grant of benefits to the
latter class while denying them to the former class is in no way arbitrary or
discriminatory.
The
Rules did not confer an indefeasible right on all persons who had served in the
armed forces during the Emergency. Only those of them who had joined the State
Government's service while the unamended Rules operated acquired a vested
right, by reason of their having accepted the offer made thereby, which could
not be defeated by the amendment.
The
appeal and writ petition must, therefore, fail.
We
note with regret that we have received no assistance from learned counsel for
the State and that his explanation was that he had received no instructions.
The
appeal and the writ petition are dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.
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