| Headnote |
U.P. Nagar Mahapalika Adhiniyam, 1959 - Act abolished all municipal boards and other local authorities - Empowered State Government to constitute Centralised Palika Services prescribing method of recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to services - Rule 6 - Scope of - Rule 6(2)(iv) provided that if no orders of final absorption passed before a certain date the officer or servant concerned deemed to have been finally absorbed - Rule retrospectively amended from time to time on two occasions extending the date of final absorption to rectify mistakes in dates - State Legislature, if had power to confer power on State Government to amend rule retrospectively.Rule 6(2) (iii) - lf imposed a duty on State Government to act in a quasi judicial manner. Rules of natural justice - Applicability of.The U.P. Nagar Mahapalika Adhiniyam 1959 as well as the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916 empowered local bodies in the State to appoint their employees subject to certain regulatory control by the State Government. In 1964 s. 112A was added to the 1959 Adhiniyam empowering the State Government to make rules for the creation of one or more services to be known as Centralised Palika Services common to all the municipal corporations and municipal boards and prescribe the method for recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to any such service. Section 69B which was added to the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916 was in identical terms as s. 112A. Section 577(e) of the Adhiniyam provided for provisional absorption of officers and servants of the erstwhile municipalities till they were finally absorbed in any centralised services created under the Act. By s. 577 (ee) the Administrators of Boards etc., were authorised to make temporary appointments of officers and servants till substantive appointments, were made and such officers and servants were treated as on deputation with the municipal corporations.In exercise of the powers conferred under s. 112A the State Government made the U.P. Palika (Centralised) Service Rules, 1966 which came into force on July 9, 1966. Since r. 6 of the Rules was found to be contrary to the provisions of s. 112A and s. 69B, the U.P. Local Self-Government (Amendment) Ordinance, 1966 (which later became an Act) was promulgated to validate the 1966 Rules. Section 19 of the Act provided that the amendments made to the Rules might be given retrospective effect, limited to a period of one year from the commencement of the Ordinance. Thereafter the U. P. Palika (Centralised) Services (Amendment) Rules, 1966 were passed by which r. 6 was repealed and re-enacted with retrospective effect from July 9, 1966. Clause (ii) of r. 6(2) empowered the State Government to pass a final order of absorption in respect of particular officers and servants of the erstwhile municipal boards if they were found suitable. Clause (iii) provided that such orders had to be made on or before March 31, 1967. Since the work of final absorption could not be completed by March 31, 1967, r. 6(2) (iii) was amended shifting the date to June 30, 1967. But this amendment having been made to come into effect from April 1, 1967 the legal fiction created by cl. (iv) of r. 6 that if no orders of final absorption were passed till March 31, 1967 the officer or servant concerned was to be deemed to have been finally absorbed, came into play. Clause (iii) was, therefore, again amended shifting the date of passing the order from March 31, 1967 to August 31, 1967. The rule was made with retrospective effect from July 9, 1966.For the purpose of final absorption of all officers and servants who were found suitable in the two categories viz., those appointed under s. 577(e) and s. 577(ee) of the Adhiniyam, the State Government laid down a procedure. It constituted Divisional Committees for making necessary recommendations to the State Government. On January 11, 1967 the State Government issued the first Circular stating that all officers and servants whose services were proposed to be determined on the ground of unsuitability might be given an opportunity of personal interview by the Divisional Committees. The Government divided the officers and servants into two categories, those getting salary above Rs. 500/- and those getting salary below Rs. 500/- and provided that cases of each category were to be dealt with at different levels. By this circular the Government re-constituted the composition of the divisional Committees so far as the five municipal corporations which were created under the 1959 Adhiniyam were concerned and directed that these Divisional Committees should make selections for all Centralised Services except those whose starting salary was Rs. 500/- and above. The selection for this category was to be made by the State Selection Committee. With a view to secure a reasonable uniformity in the standards to be applied by the Divisional Committees in making the selection, the third Circular dated February 23, 1967 provided that the Committees should interview the official concerned to judge his suitability for absorption in the Centralised Services and that if it was proposed to declare an official to be unsuitable for absorption on the basis of adverse entries, the Divisional Committees should afford an opportunity to the official concerned to appear before it and clear up his position. It was further provided that only those adverse remarks which were found to have been duly communicated to the official concerned might be considered against him. Thus the procedure laid down was this : The recommendations of the Divisional Committees in respect of persons drawing salary less than Rs. 500/ - would be scrutinised by the State Government in the Local Self-Government Department and the necessary orders passed thereon while in respect of the second category officers drawing a salary above Rs. 500/- p.m. the Secretary to the Government Local Self-Government Department would obtain the orders of the Minister concerned in passing the final orders.The appellant RA was a permanent Assistant Engineer in the Development Board, Kanpur. Before the coming into force of the Adhiniyam he was appointed as officiating Executive Engineer and since then he continued to function in that capacity on a purely temporary arrangement under s. 577(ee). The appellant AH was a Sanitary Inspector in the Municipal Board, Kanpur and continued to hold that post. He was later promoted temporarily as Assistant Engineer and he stood provisionally absorbed under s. 577(e).Writ Petitions filed by the appellants and others challenging the vires of the Rules were dismissed by the High Court. On appeal to this Court it was contended that the appellants must be deemed to have been absorbed on March 31, 1967 by virtue of the fiction contained in cl. (iv) of r. 6(2), as originally enacted, because the amendment made to the Rule shifting the date of final absorption first from March 31, 1967 to June 30, 1967 and subsequently to August 31, 1967 were legally ineffective and (2) that the impugned orders were vitiated on account of the failure of the State Government to afford to the appellants an opportunity of being heard. |
