Employees of registered societies and companies do not have the same constitutional and legal rights as Government servants.

( 1 ) IT is generally assumed that there is greater constitutional and legal assurance of fair treatment and security of tenure in the sphere of public employment than in private employment (except for "workman" under labour legislation ). Employment under Government is par excellence, public. Article 12 of the Constitution, however, offers the protection of fundamental rights against the state which includes not only the Government but also Legislatures, local authorities and "other- authorities". Under Article 226 of the Constitution, writ petitions are maintainable not only against the Government but also against an "authority" for the enforcement of fundamental rights or any other purposes, i. e. enforcement of other rights.

( 2 ) THE tendency of the modern State (particularly in India) to regulate by or under legislation more and more activities gives a public character to these regulatory agencies. Questions have increasingly arisen as to what extent and for what purposes the employees of these new public bodies are entitled to the protection of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, of the rules of natural justice and other reliefs which can be obtained in a writ petition.

( 3 ) THE Indian Council of Agricultural Research (I. C. A. R.) and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (I. A. R. I. managed by it have in their employment a large staff including highly qualified scientists. The I. C. A. R. and the I. A. R. I. are in general sense public bodies. Their employees are, therefore, in public and not in private employment. The question, the consideration of which necessitated this refereance to a large Bench, is whether these employees have any constitutional or legal rights analogous to those of Government servants. The answer to this question would depend upon the status of these bodies which are their employers vis-a-vis Articles 12 and 226 of the Constitution and the extent to which the employment relationship is governed by the statute or statutory rules.

( 4 ) THE petitioners Dr. Y. P. Gupta and Dr. T. S. Raman in this and the connected writ petitions respectively (Civil Writs 2 76 and 669 of 1972) challenge the validity of the appointioent of Dr. S. L. Mehta (Respondent 6) to the post of Senior Biochemist in the I. A. R. I which according to Dr. Gupta is a part of the I. C. A. R. and which according to Dr. Raman is governed and managed by the I. C. A. R.

( 5 ) THE appointment was made by Dr. M. S. Swaminathan (Respondent 4) in his cara,city as the Director-General of the I. C. A. R. (Respondent 2) on the 10th March, 1972 on the recommendation of a Selection Committee of which Dr. M. S. Naik (Respondent 5) Head of the. Division of Biochemistry in the I. A. R. I. was a member. The various grounds on which the appointment was challenged were summarised in his argument by Shri Yogeshwar Prasad, learned counsel for the petitioners, as follows :-

A. That Dr. Swaminathan and Dr. M. S. Naik were biased against the petitioners and they acted bona fide against the petitioners in selecting Dr. Mehta for the post.

B. That Dr. Mehta, did not satisfy the essential qualifications for appointment to the post and

C. That the prescribed procedure for making the appointment was not followed.

( 6 ) DR. Gupta also seeks to quash the decision of the Academic Council of the Post Graduate School of the I. A. R. I. (Respondent 7) unanimously taken in their meeting held on May 3, 1971 removing Dr. Gupta from the membership of the Faculty of the Post Graduate School on the ground of bona fides of Dr. Swaminathan and also because Dr. Gupta was not given an opportunity to show cause why he should not be removed from the said body.

( 7 ) THE I. C. A. R. is alleged by the petitioners to be a part of the Department of Agriculture of the Government of India and the Union of India is made Respondent 1 because the Union Public Service Commission was not consulted in making the impugned appointment to the post of Senior Biochemist