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2024 Supreme(Online)(KAR) 23303
HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA
N S SANJAY GOWDA, J
SRI S KUMAR – Appellant
Versus
STATE OF KARNATAKA – Respondent
WP No. 14885 of 2020 | WP No. 2345 of 2021 | WP No. 12052 of 2021 | WP No. 20348 of 2022 | WP No. 21093 of 2022
For the Appellants/Petitioners: SRI.VIVEKANANDA.T.P., SRI.V.SRINIVAS
For the Respondents: SRI.B.RAVINDRANATH, SRI.K.N.PUTTEGOWDA, SRI.CHANDRAKANTHA.R.GOULARY, SRI.B.L.SANJEEV
The court held that new educational requirements imposed for promotions cannot extinguish the vested rights of employees recruited under previous regulations, thus preserving their eligibility for promotion based on those rules.
Headnote:(A) Article 14 and Article 16 of the Constitution of India - Writ petitions filed to quash the educational qualification prescribed under BBMP (General Cadre and Recruitment of Officers and Employees) Rules, 2020, which were claimed to be unconstitutional, illegal, and violative - Court held that serving employees recruited under the 1971 Regulations were entitled to promotions under the lower educational qualifications prescribed therein - Repeal of 1971 Regulations does not extinguish their vested rights. (Paras 15-36)
(B) Promotion rights - It was ruled that the right to be considered for promotion cannot be nullified by subsequent amendments to the rules, and the state cannot deprive employees of their legitimate promotion rights based on new qualifications regardless of their years in service. (Paras 31-35)
Facts of the case:
Petitioners, serving employees of BBMP, challenged new promotion rules that require a Bachelor's degree, which they do not possess, threatening their promotion to Assistant Revenue Officer previously assured under the 1971 Regulations.
Findings of Court:
The court concluded that the new rules cannot apply retrospectively to employees under the older regulations, thus preserving their eligibility for promotion based on previous qualifications.
Issues: Whether the new rules apply to employees recruited under the old regulations and if educational qualifications can be retrospectively enforced against them.
Ratio Decidendi: The court affirmed that the repeal of prior regulations does not affect the vested rights of employees for promotions, requiring adherence to the qualification standards in the 1971 Regulations.
Result: Writ petitions allowed.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. introduction of petitioners and initial appointments (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6) |
| 2. seeking quash of educational qualification requirements (Para 7 , 8 , 9 , 10) |
| 3. state's counterarguments on qualifications (Para 11 , 12 , 13 , 14) |
| 4. historical legal framework of recruitment (Para 15 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20) |
| 5. introduction of new recruitment rules and implications (Para 21 , 22 , 23 , 24) |
| 6. consequences of repealing the 1971 regulations (Para 25 , 26 , 27 , 28) |
| 7. protection of employees' promotional rights under previous rules (Para 29 , 30 , 31 , 32) |
| 8. further reasoning supporting application of old rules (Para 33 , 34 , 35) |
| 9. decision for the writ petitions (Para 36) |
| 10. additional directions regarding promotions (Para 37 , 38) |
ORDER
1. The petitioners are all serving employees of the Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (“the BBMP”).
2. For the sake of convenience, the initial appointment of the petitioners and the promotions that they have secured in their career are stated as under:
a. WP 14885/2020: SDA to FDA to Manager
b. WP 12052/2021:
i. SDA to RI to Assessor
ii. TI to RI to Assessor
iii. D grp to 1st grade RI to Assessor iv. TI to 1st grade RI to Assessor
v. TI to RI to Ist Grade RI
vi. TI to RI to Assessor
c. WP 2345/2021:
i. RI to Assessor
ii. FDA to Assessor
d. WP 20348/2022: Helper to SDA to Assessor to ARO (Independent charge under R 32)
e. WP 21093 2022: SDA to RI Grade I to Assessor
3. The petitioners herein were, admittedly, appointed under the City of Bangalore Municipal Corporation Services (General) Cadre and Recruitment Regulations, 1971. (for short,“the 1971 Regulations”) read with the Karnataka City Corporation Employees (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1991 (for short,“the 1991 Rules”).
4. It is not in dispute that the petitioners are holding the aforementioned posts and all of them are eligible to be considered for only one promotional post i.e., to the post of Assistant Revenue Officer (“the ARO”).
5. It is their simple case that they were recruited under the 1971 Regulations and their conditions of service were governed by the 1991 Rules and, therefore, their promotions and service conditions during their entire service tenure would have to be in accordance with the 1971 Regulations. It is their case that as they were accorded a few promotions under the 1971 Regulations, for the last promotion that they were entitled to, the same 1971 Regulations would have to be applied.
6. It is contended that the 1971 Regulations under which they were recruited provided for 4 classes of posts, namely Classes A, B, C and D, and they had been recruited to a Class C post for which the educational qualification prescribed was a pass in SSLC and for the employee holding a Class C post, the ultimate promotional post was to a Class B post and even for this promotional Class B post, the 1971 Regulations prescribed only a pass in SSLC.
7. It is their case that the 1971 Regulations, under which they were recruited and also assured of promotional avenues, were repealed and replaced by the BBMP (General Cadre and Recruitment of Officers and Employees) Rules 2020 (for short, hereinafter referred to as “the 2020 Rules”) and these Rules cannot be made applicable to them. They contend that the 2020 Rules prescribe a higher qualification of a Bachelor’s Degree for the only promotional post of ARO that they are entitled to, and since none of them possess a Degree, their chances of being promoted would stand extinguished, if the 2020 Rules are made applicable to them.
8. The petitioners are therefore seeking quashing of that portion of the 2020 Rules which relates to prescription of educational qualification of a Bachelor’s Degree under the UGC norms from a University established by law, in respect of promotion from the cadre of Revenue Assessor, Manager and Reporter.
9. They also seek a direction to the BBMP to fill up the post of Assistant Revenue Officers under the earlier Rules by holding that 2020 Rules are prospective in nature.
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