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1987 Supreme(SC) 957
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
RANGANATH MISRA AND S. RANGANATHAN, JJ.
K. Prasad and others, Appellants
Versus
Union of India and others, Respondents.
Civil Appeals No. 3072 of 1980 (with C.A. No. 1218 of 1982 and W.P. Nos. 17467-17474 of 1984) D/- 10-12-1987.
A.M.KHANWILKAR, A.S.BHASME, A.SUBBA RAO, A.Subhashini, ANIL DEV SINGH, Atul Sharma, C.P.LAL, C.RAMESH, C.V.SUBBA RAO, D.GUTPA, Dalip Tandon, E.C.AGARWAL, G.L.SANGHI, GOVIND DAS, J.R.DAS, K.K.KHURANA, K.K.SINGHVI, KAPIL SIBAL, L.K.PANDEY, M.N.KRISHNA MANI, N.M.POPLI, P.N.MISHRA, P.P.Rao, PURNIMA BHATT KAK, R.K.MEHTA, RANI CHHABRA, S.DIXIT, S.N.KACKAR, S.P.KALRA, V.A.BOBDE, V.B.JOSHI, V.J.Francis, VIJAY PANDIT
Headnote:
All India Services Act, 1951 – Section 3 – Recruitment – All India Service – Few months before India gained Independence, a decision was taken that one of the primary needs of the federal constitution envisaged for India would be the setting up of All India Services common to the Centre and to the States – Members were to be recruited from the intelligent youth of the country by competitive examinations of high standard – They were to be free from political control, contented and having a sense of security – idea was to build up a bureaucracy consisting of efficient officers of integrity and impartiality who could man important administrative posts and make possible the continued governance of the country unaffected by periodical changes in the political set-ups in the Centre and various States consequent on quinquennial elections to the various legislatures in the country –Held, He urged, on the strength of these observations, that the Cadre Strength Regulations only provide for internal adjustments at the discretion of the Government that no one can claim a right on the strength of those Regulations – In our opinion the argument places the case of the initial recruits on too high a pedestal to be accepted and we do not think that the cited observations help him sustain such a tall argument – Exception, given by way of illustration in the above passage, indicates that there can be circumstances in which rights can be created in certain recruits under the Cadre Strength Regulations – If we had agreed with the direct recruits that there had been some invalidity or infirmity attached to the subsequent selections by way of initial recruitment, court would not have rejected the appeal on the ground that the Regulations cannot give rise to a cause of action – It is only because we have come to the conclusion, on a proper interpretation of the Cadre Strength Regulations and the Recruitment Rules, that there is no error in the procedure followed by the Government that we are rejecting the appellants conention – Order accordingly
Judgment
RANGANATHAN, J.
INTRODUCTION
1. The controversies arising in this batch of cases are by way of sequel to three earlier decisions of this court in regard to the constitution of the Indian Forest Service viz. Kraipak v. Union of India AIR 1970 SC 150, Parvez Qadir v. Union of India 1975-2 SCR 432 and Union of India v. Chothia (1978) 3 SCR 652,. A little historical background is, therefore, necessary to appreciate the problems before us.
THE ALL-INDIA SERVICES ACT
2. A few months before India gained Independence, a decision was taken that one of the primary needs of the federal constitution envisaged for India would be the setting up of All India Services common to the Centre and to the States. The members were to be recruited from the intelligent youth of the country by competitive examinations of high standard. They were to be free from political control, contented and having a sense of security. The idea was to build up a bureaucracy consisting of efficient officers of integrity and impartiality who could man important administrative posts and make possible the continued governance of the country unaffected by periodical changes in the political set-ups in the Centre and various States consequent on quinquennial elections to the various legislatures in the country. The recruitment to these services and their ultimate disciplinary control was to be with the Union Government but the officers would serve, under the immediate control of the State Governments, on various State cadres. Initially, the All India Services viz. the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service were created to replace the former Indian Civil Service and Indian Police respectively. The statutory basis for the implementation of the above policy was provided by Chapter I of Part XIV of the Constitution (Articles 308 to 314) supplemented by the All India Services Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") passed by Parliament as envisaged in Article 312 of the Constitution. The Act, initially applicable to the two Services above mentioned, was extended by Amendment Act 27 of 1963 to cover the constitution of three new All-India Services one of which was the Indian Forest Service (I.F.S., for short). S. 3 of the Act empowers the Government of India to make, after consultation with the State Governments, rules for the regulation of recruitment, and the conditions of service of persons appointed, to an All-India Service. Such rules are to be laid, as soon as possible after they are made and for not less than fourteen days before Parliament.
THE RULES
3. Pursuant to the amendment of 1963, mutual consultations were held between the Union Government and the various State Governments and the broad pattern 1 already in existence for the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service was decided to be adopted for the Indian Forest Service also. Once this decision was taken, the statutory rules followed. There were five sets of rules framed between 1966 and 1968 :
(i) The IFS (Cadre) Rules, 1966
(ii) The IFS (Recruitment) Rules, 1966
(iii) The IFS (Probation) Rules, 1968
(iv) The IFS (Pay) Rules, 1968
(v) The IFS (Regulation of Seniority) Rules, 1968
Some of the rules relevant for our present purposes may now be set out.
4. (a) Cadre Rules: - The Cadre Rules came into force on 1st July, 1966. Rule 3 provides that there shall be constituted for each State or group of States an Indian Forest Service Cadre. The cadre constituted for a State is called a State Cadre and a cadre constituted for a group of States, a Joint Cadre. Rule 4 is important and can be extracted :
"4. Strength of Cadres:- (1) The strength and composition of each of the cadres constituted under rule 3 shall be as determined by regulations made by the Central Government in consultation with the State Government in this behalf.
(2) The Central Government shall, at the interval of every three years, re-examine the strength and composition of each such cadre in consultation with t
