Report No. 58
Position in India before the Constitution
8.12. The tenure of service at pleasure applied in India also before the Constitution. In Dennings' case1 the plaintiff, Denning, was appointed by the defendant, Secretary of State for India in Council to a post in Bengal for a period of five years from January 1910. In breach of the agreement, the defendant terminated the plaintiff's appointment in January 1913. No imputation of misconduct was made against the plaintiff. It was held that a Crown servant (even if no misconduct was alleged) was liable to be dismissed at the pleasure of the Crown without notice, even if the form of agreement under which he had been engaged implied that except in the case of misconduct the engagement could be terminated only by notice.
1. Denning v. Secretary of State for India, (1920) 37 TLR 138 (PC).
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