The main legal point established in the judgment is the implied power of transfer in absence of specific rules and the distinction between transfer and deputation in the context of employee transfers.

JUDGMENT

S.B. SINHA, J :

1. Leave granted in the SLP.

2. Respondents herein were appointed by the Doordarshan and Akashvani. Parliament enacted the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990 (for short, the Act) to provide for the establishment of a Broadcasting Corporation for India, to be known as Prasar Bharati, to define its composition, functions and powers and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The said Act though came into force on and from 15.09.1997, Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) (for short, the Corporation) came to be established on 23.11.1997, the date on which the Appointed ,day was notified in terms of Section 3 of the Act. Section 11 of the Act provides that it shall be lawful for the Central Government to transfer to the Corporation any of the officers or other employees serving in the Akashvani and Doordarshan and engaged in the performance of those functions, where the Central Government has ceased to perform the functions which in terms of Section 12 are the functions of the Corporation. Sub-section (5 )of Section 11 of the Act, however, provides that every officer or other employee transferred by an order made under sub-section (1) shall, within six months from the date of transfer, exercise his option, in writing, to be governed by the conditions enumerated therein and such option once exercised under the Act shall be final. However, once the services of the officers or employees of Akashvani and Doordarshan are transferred to the Corporation, sub-section (4) of Section 11 would be attracted which is in the following terms:

"(4) An officer or other employee transferred by an order under sub-section (1) shall, on and from the date of transfer, cease to be an employee of the Central Government and become an employee of the Corporation with such designation as the Corporation may determine and shall, subject to the provisions of sub-sections (5) and (6), be governed by such regulations as may be made as respects remuneration and other conditions of service, including pension, leave and provident fund, shall continue to be an officer or other employee of the Corporation unless and until his employment is terminated by the Corporation."

3. No order of deputation in respect of any of the employees or officers of the Doordarshan or Akashvani had also been passed. The officers and employees of erstwhile Akashvani and Doordarshan, however, continued to work with the Corporation. They drew their salaries and other remunerations. The same terms and conditions of their services were continued to apply to them as if they were the Central Government employees.

4. The Corporation passed orders of transfer of the operational and administrative staff. Allegedly, such transfers were made with a view to optimize the use of manpower available with the Corporation so that every Station and Kendra became fully functional. The legality and/or validity of the said orders of transfer were questioned before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh, by the respondents herein on or about 07.09.2000 which was marked as O.A. NO.725/PB/ 2000. By a judgment and order dated 06.10.2000, the orders of transfer were quashed relying, inter alia, on an earlier decision of the Tribunalin S.P. Kohli v. Union of India and Others. The writ petition filed by the appellants herein for quashing the said order of the Central Administrative Tribunal has been dismissed by a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court by reason of the impugned judgment.

5. At the very outset, it may be noticed that a Division Bench of this Court by an order dated 29.03.2005 noticed the unsatisfactory state of affairs prevailing in the matter as the Central Government employees who had been working in Akashvani Stations and Doordarshan Kendras continued to work in the Prasar Bharati for nearly eight years stating:

"...Prima facie, this uncertainty has continued since appropriate