Judgment

BHARGAVA, J. : The appellant, Tarak Nath Ghosh, was appointed by Secretary of State for India to the Secretary of State s Service known as the Indian Police on 25th January, 1937. When agreement took place with the British Government for independence of India, the Central Government on 21st October, 1946, in agreement with a number of Provincial Governments including the Government of Bihar, constituted another Service known as the Indian Police Service. Recruitment to this Indian Police Service began on 15th August, 1947, after India attained Dominion status. Subsequently on 23rd January, 1950, the Governor-General, in consultation with the Provincial Governments, promulgated rules for forming a cadre for the Police Officers. The Rules, known as the Indian Police (Cadre) Rules, 1950, came into force on 23rd January, 1950, and laid down that a number of posts mentioned in the Schedule would be treated as cadre posts and no cadre post shall be filled otherwise than by a cadre officer. Amongst the cadre officers defined in the Rules were included members of the Indian Police and of the Indian Police Service. On 26th January, 1950, the Constitution of India came into force and provision was made in Article 312 (1) empowering Parliament by law to provide for the creation of one or more all-India services common to the Union and the States, and to regulate the recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to any such service. Article 312 (2) laid down that the services known at the commencement of the Constitution as the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service shall be deemed to be services created by Parliament under this article. In pursuance of the power given to Parliament under this Article, Parliament passed an Act for constituting all-India services. That Act is the All-India Services Act, 1951 (No. 61 of 1951) (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"). The Act recognised the existence of the two All-India Services mentioned in Article 312 (2) of the Constitution and, by Section 3, empowered the Central Government, after consultation with the Governments of the States concerned, to make rules for the regulation of recruitment, and the conditions of service of persons appointed to an All-India Service. Section 4 laid down that all rules in force immediately before the commencement of the Act and applicable to an All-India Service shall continue to be in force and shall be deemed to be rules made under this Act. In exercise of the powers granted by S. 3 of the Act, the Central Government promulgated the Indian Police Service (Recruitment) Rules, 1954. Under these Rules, it was laid down that the Indian Police Service was to consist of the following persons, viz.:-

(a) members of the Indian Police;

(b) members recruited to the Service before the commencement of these rules; and

(c) persons recruited to the Service in accordance with the provisions of these rules.

The Rules defined "member of the Indian Police" to mean a person who having been appointed to the police service under the Crown in India, known as the Indian Police, continues on and after the commencement of these rules, to serve under the Government of India, or State. Thus, under there Rules, persons appointed to the Indian Police, who had been appointed by the Secretary of State and had continued to serve the Government of India, became members of the Indian Police, and under clause 3 of the Rules, the Indian Police Service included these members of the Indian Police. Subsequently, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3 (1) of the Act, the Central Government, after consultation with the Governments of the States concerned, made rules for regulating the discipline in the Indian, Police Service. These Rules, which were enforced with effect from 1st September, 1955, came to be known as the All-India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules of 1955"). Rule 4 of these Rules was amend