Judgement

SATYANARAYANA RAJU, J. : These appeals, on certificate granted by the High Court of Mysore, raise the question of the constitutional validity of the Mysore Village Offices Abolition Act, 1961 (Act XIV of 1961).

2. By virtue of the provisions of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, a new State known as the State of Mysore was formed comprising the territories of the then existing State of Mysore, certain districts in the then existing State of Bombay and Hyderabad, South Kanara district in the State of Madras except certain parts thereof and the then existing State of Coorg. The legislature of the new State of Mysore enacted the Mysore Village Offices Abolition Act, 1961 (Act XIV of 1961), hereinafter referred to as the Act. It received the assent of the President on July 8, 1961. Sub-section (3) of S. 1 authorised the State Government to fix a date for the commencement of the Act. By notification, dated January 9, 1963, the Government of Mysore notified that the said Act shall come into force with effect from February 1, 1963. Immediately after the Act was assented to by the President, the Governor of Mysore, in exercise of the powers vested in him under proviso to Art. 309 of the Constitution and other powers enabling him in that behalf, framed rules called The Mysore General Service (Revenue Subordinate Branch) Village Accountants (Cadre and Recruitment) Rules, 1961, in order to make recruitment to the posts of village accountants. The rules regulated the pay and other conditions of service of the village accountants.

3. By a notification issued on January 6, 1963, the Government of Mysore directed the Deputy Commissioner to appoint persons recruited under the rules and relieve the then holders of their offices and if the number of candidates fell short, to continue the existing holders in their post. There was a further direction that other village officers, viz., patels, thoties and talaries whose posts were also abolished under the Act should be continued in their present posts pending consideration by the Government of the question as to whether they should be continued.

4. The appellants have filed petitions under Art. 226 of the Constitution in the High Court of Mysore for the issue of writs of prohibition and certiorari declaring the impugned Act to be illegal, unconstitutional and void. Among the petitioners who are the village officers of the new State of Mysore are shanbhogs, patels and village karnams. In the writ petitions filed by them, they have impugned the validity of the Act. The grounds raised are common and the reliefs claimed are also identical. In the main the appellants attack the validity of the Act on the ground that it is a piece of colourable legislation. Para 9 of the affidavit filed in Writ Petition No. 393 of 1962, which is typical of the other writ petitions, states the ground in the following terms :

" ....... though the object of the Act is to abolish the offices which are held hereditarily, in fact, what is being sought to be done is to extinguish the right of the present incumbents and thereafter to appoint persons to be recruited by the State Government. This is evident from the rules called Mysore General Services Rules (Revenue Subordinate Branch) Village Accountants (Cadre and Recruitment Rules of 1961) dated 29th November 1961. Thus, the posts are not being abolished but by a colourable exercise of power, the respondent is seeking to remove the present incumbents to enable it to appoint persons of his choice ..... for this reason also, the impugned Act and the Rules are illegal, ultra vires and unconstitutional as being a colourable exercise of power done with the mala fide intention of depriving persons like me of our fundamental rights under the Constitution."

We may now examine the provisions of the Act. The preamble reads :

"whereas it is expedient in the public interest to abolish the village offices which were held hereditarily before the commencement of the Constitution and