IMPORTANT POINT
There cannot be any claim for regularisation for having worked for a number of years if the regularisation was not in accordance with the rules.

Headnote:SERVICE LAW-Safdarjang Hospital (Class III Posts) Recruitment Rules, 1973-Termination of services -Recruitment of LDCs-Method of-Recruitment to posts of LDCs in the hospital to be made through SSC-However appellants selected by duly constituted DPC-They qualified typing test as required by rules-Appellants fulfilled requisite qualifications -Order regularising their services cancelled five years after they had been regularised-Appellants working as LDCs for varying periods from 18 to 20 years allegedly on ad hoc basis-Whether order terminating their appointments as regular LDCs till regular candidates sponsored by SSC took their position is sustainable?-(No)-Appointments were made in accordance with the Rules which have continued for a number of years-Appointments cannot be treated as ad hoc or fortuitous.
       Held that recruitment to the LDCs in the hospital is governed by the statutory rules framed by the Central Government under proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution. It is nobody s case the appellants did not fulfil the requisite qualifications or that they did not qualify by the typing test with the speed 30 w.p.m. as required by the rules. It is also not disputed that the appellants were selected after they had undergone the process of selection by the Selection Board. The fact, however, remains that when the hospital authorities approached the SSC it expressed its inability to conduct the test and select candidates for appointment to the post of LDCs in the hospital and rather told them that the authorities could themselves make arrangement to fill up the vacancies through other authorised channels if it was urgent. SSC did not say that the authorities could fill up the vacancies on ad hoc basis only till such time candidates sponsored by SSC were made available to the hospital. In pursuance to the communication received from the SSC the hospital authorities asked the local employment exchange to sponsor candidates and at the same time issued a circular allowing the eligible departmental candidates to apply for the post of LDCs. Posts were in existence. The authorities fell back on the recruitment rules, conducted the examination, found the appellants to fulfil the qualifications and then selected them by duly constituted DPC. The respondents have neither stated nor contradicted that the selection of the appellants was not in conformity with the recruitment rules. That being so we fail to see why the order of May 19, 1985 regularising the services of ad hoc LDCs including the petitioners should have been cancelled on technical grounds five years after they had been regularised and absorbed in the cadre. (Para 11)
       Further held that there cannot be any claim for regularisation for having worked for a number of years if the regularisation was not in accordance with the rules. That is not so here. As noted above in the present case appointments were made in accordance with the Rules which appointments have continued for a number of years and cannot be treated as ad hoc or fortuitous. (Para 13)

JUDGMENT

D.P. Wadhwa, J.-Ten appellants in this appeal are aggrieved by the order dated August 4, 1995 of the Central Administrative Tribunal (for short the Tribunal ) dismissing their petition. They had approached the Tribunal seeking to quash: (1) the order dated May 19, 1986 modifying the dates of their regularisation as Lower Division Clerks (LDCs) and (2) the order dated March 27, 1991 of the Chief Administrative Officer, Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi issued in pursuance to the advice received from the Director General Health Services, Government of India, terminating their appointments as regular LDCs till regular candidates sponsored by the Staff Selection Commission took their position. The appellants who were working as LDCs in the hospital represented against the order dated May 19, 1986 which had been issued in supersession of the earlier order dated December 3, 1985 changing their dates of regularisation. Instead they were visited with the order threatening to terminate their services.

2. The appellants have been now working as LDCs for varying periods from 18 to 20 years allegedly on ad hoc basis. Their contention is they have been regularly appointed as per statutory rules. Before us, however, they have given up their challenge to the order dated May 19, 1986 faced with, perhaps, the consequence of losing their jobs altogether. Before the Tribunal there were 11 petitioners and one (Mr. Udal Singh) seems to have dropped out from these proceedings.

3 The Central Government in the exercise of power under proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution framed rules called The Safdarjang Hospital (Class III Posts) Recruitment Rules, 1973. Under these rules, method of recruitment for LDCs is 100% by direct recruitment; age limit is 18 to 25 years; educational qualification is matriculation or equivalent with speed of 30 w.p.m. in type-writing (and a certain relaxation for a physically handicapped person); period of probation prescribed is three years; and the selection is by D.P.C. These rules were made on December 17, 1973 and were published in the Gazette of India on June 5, 1974. By Resolution dated November 4, 1975 of the Government of India, Cabinet Secretariat in the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, a decision was taken to set up a Subordinate Services Commission ( SSC for short). Apart from the constitution of the SCC, the Resolution also prescribed its functions. It is to make recruitment to non-technical class III posts in the Departments of the Government of India and in the Subordinate Offices except those posts for which recruitment is made by the Railway Service Commission etc. The Commission is to conduct examinations for recruitment to non-technical class-III posts in the Subordinate Services in the Ministries/Departments of the Government of India and their attached and Subordinate Offices as may be specified from time to time. Since recruitment to the posts of LDCs in the hospital is to be made through SSC, a requisition was sent by the hospital authorities for filling up the posts of LDCs existing in the hospital. SSC by its letter dated April 30, 1977 informed the hospital that the qualified candidates could be expected to be available only in early 1978 and if the vacancies were required to be filled up urgently, the authorities might themselves make arrangements to fill up these vacancies through other authorised channels. In this view of the matter, the hospital authorities asked the local employment exchange to sponsor candidates though with clear indication in the requisition that the recruitment would be purely on ad hoc basis till candidates from SSC were made available. Simultaneously a circular was also issued in the hospital allowing eligible departmental candidates to apply for the LDCs posts till SSC nominees were available. Employment Exchange sponsored 27 candidates and there were 18 departmental candidates. A written test w

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1997 Supreme(SC) 1365

IMPORTANT POINTThere cannot be any claim for regularisation for having worked for a number of years if the regularisation was not in accordance with the rules.

Cases Referred (3)

IMPORTANT POINT
There cannot be any claim for regularisation for having worked for a number of years if the regularisation was not in accordance with the rules.