Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966

The petitioners, who were engineers and other staff employed for the Beas Project, challenged orders of retrenchment, claiming they were employees of the Central Government, governed by the Central Civil Services (Temporary Service) Rules, 1965, and entitled to quasi‑permanent status and transfer to the Bhakra Beas Man…

The State of Himachal Pradesh sued the Union of India and five other parties seeking its share of electricity generated by the Bhakra‑Nangal and Beas hydro‑electric projects, claiming entitlement based on the submergence of its territory and the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966. The Court examined whether the suit was b…

Indradeo Paswan, a Deputy Director (Mines) in the undivided State of Bihar, was promoted to Additional Director (Mines) and filed a writ petition for final promotion. While the petition was pending, Bihar was bifurcated under the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000, creating the State of Jharkhand. Although Paswan exercised…

Hans Raj, a clerk who began service in 1949, was prematurely retired by the Deputy Commissioner of Bhatinda on 20 August 1975 under Rule 3(1)(a) of the Punjab Civil Services (Premature Retirement) Rules, 1975, on the ground that he had completed more than 25 years of service. He challenged the order, arguing that the b…

Ambala Bus Syndicate, a private operator of non‑air‑conditioned buses, obtained an inter‑state permit from Punjab and sought a counter‑signature from the Chandigarh Union Territory to operate in Chandigarh. The High Court Single Judge allowed the request, but the Division Bench reversed, holding that the 1998 Scheme (a…

The Supreme Court considered two appeals arising from the same suit. In the first appeal (Kewal Ram v. Ram Lubhai) the Court examined whether an application under Order IX Rule 13 of the CPC could be filed in the trial court to set aside an ex‑parte decree against defendants who had never been served, even though an ap…

The State of Haryana relaxed the minimum qualification for ex‑military personnel, appointing diploma‑holding engineers as Assistant Engineers under Rule 3(iii) of the Punjab Government National Emergency (Concession) Rules, 1965, and counted their military service for seniority. The respondents, after promotion to Exec…

The petitioners challenged a Central Government notification dated 15 December 1986 that, under Section 87 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, extended the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction (Amendment) Act, 1985 to the Union Territory of Chandigarh. The core issues were whether Section 87 itself violated the Const…

The petitioners challenged three notifications issued by the Chief Commissioner of Chandigarh under Section 3 of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 (as extended to Chandigarh), arguing that the section delegated excessive legislative power, violated Article 14, was ultra‑violet of the Act’s object, and th…

The Supreme Court examined the constitutionality of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara (Management) Act, 2014, which created a separate statutory body to manage Sikh gurdwaras in Haryana. The Court held that Section 72 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 and Sections 3 and 4 of the Inter‑State Corporation Act, 1957 are merel…

The petitioners, diploma‑holding engineers appointed in the erstwhile Punjab Service, were promoted to Sub‑Divisional Officer in Class II and were eligible for promotion to Executive Engineer in Class I under the unamended Rule 6(b) of the Punjab Service of Engineers (Class I) Rules, 1964. The Haryana Government issued…

The petitioners, Ashok Gulati and others, were promoted as Executive Engineers on an ad‑hoc basis by the Haryana Government in 1978, while respondents B.S. Jain and S.L. Gupta, who had earlier served as Temporary Engineers on an ad‑hoc basis, claimed that their service should count for seniority and eligibility for pro…

The Municipal Committee of Bahadurgarh had repeatedly promised that the Fateh Mandi would be exempt from octroi duty, a promise later withdrawn by the State of Haryana under its statutory powers. The petitioners, who bought plots in the market relying on the exemption, challenged the State's order imposing octroi, argu…

After the bifurcation of Punjab in 1966, the Government of India allocated 3.5 MAF of Ravi‑Beas water to Haryana under a 1976 notification. Haryana could not draw its share through the existing Bhakra Main Line Canal and therefore proposed the Sutlej‑Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal, completing its portion in 1980 while Punjab …

Amar Nath Bansal, originally a civilian clerk in the Jind State Civil Service (1943), later served in the merged state of PEPSU, then Punjab, and finally Haryana. The Jind Service Regulations of 1945 fixed the retirement age at 62, but after the formation of PEPSU the Raj Pramukh issued Ordinances No. 1 and No. 16 of 2…

The petitioners, tenants in Chandigarh and Punjab, challenged Section 13‑B of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949, which gives Non‑Resident Indian (NRI) landlords a preferential right to evict tenants, and the extension of this provision to the Union Territory of Chandigarh by a 2009 notification under Sec…

Bhagat Ram Sharma, a former member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly and later a member of the Punjab State Public Service Commission (PSPC) who retired in 1959, sought pension benefits under Punjab PSPC Regulation 8(3) and under the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Allowances & Pension of Members) Act, 1971. Th…

The case concerned the tenure of members of the Sikh Judicial Commission under the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, and the validity of several notifications issued by the Punjab Government and the Central Government. The appellant, Kashmir Singh, challenged the removal of commission members and the re‑constitution notificati…

The petitioners, former servicemen re‑employed in the Union Territory of Chandigarh after 1 Nov 1966, claimed that the Punjab Government National Emergency (Concession) Rules, 1965 should apply to them for increments, seniority, promotion and pension. The Union Territory argued that the 1965 Rules were only applicable …

The Union, exercising powers under Section 87 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, issued a notification on 13 April 2018 extending the Punjab (Regulation of Fees of Unaided Educational Institutions) Act, 2016 to the Union Territory of Chandigarh. The notification inserted a third proviso requiring unaided schools t…

The Supreme Court was asked by the President, under Article 143, to opine on the constitutional validity of the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, which sought to terminate the 1981 Punjab‑Haryana‑Rajasthan water‑sharing agreement and nullify Supreme Court decrees ordering completion of the Sutlej‑Yamuna Link …

The Supreme Court examined whether sales‑tax exemption/deferment granted to cement manufacturers under the Madhya Pradesh Commercial Tax Act, 1994, would continue to apply after the bifurcation of the erstwhile State of Madhya Pradesh into the reorganised State of Madhya Pradesh and the new State of Chhattisgarh. The C…

The appellants, tenants in Chandigarh, challenged a 7 November 2002 notification issued by the Administrator under Section 3 of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949, which exempted buildings and rented land with monthly rent exceeding Rs.1500 from the Act's provisions. The High Court had upheld the notifica…

The case concerned lands acquired for the Beas Dam Project that were notified in 1962‑63 under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The compensation was fixed using the capitalisation method, multiplying the net annual income of the land by a "years' purchase" multiplier. The Land Acquisition Officer and the District Court …

The Government Medical Store Depot, Kamal, a central government department that supplies medical stores to government hospitals on a "no profit, no loss" basis, was assessed sales tax for the years 1964-65 to 1968-69 under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948. The tax authorities treated the depot as a "dealer" and o…

The Bhakra Management Board constructed a series of separate bungalows for its employees in Nangal township. The Notified Area Committee began treating each row of adjoining bungalows as a single "building" for house‑tax purposes, applying a 15% tax rate based on the combined annual rental value. The Board argued that …

The Supreme Court upheld a 2002 decree that mandated the State of Punjab to complete the Sutlej‑Yamuna Link (SYL) canal within one year, directing the Union of India to intervene if Punjab failed. Punjab’s subsequent suit challenging the decree, the constitutionality of Section 78 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966…

R.R. Bhanot entered the service of the erstwhile State of Punjab in 1937. After the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, he was provisionally allocated to Himachal Pradesh from 1 November 1966, but he contested this allocation. Himachal Pradesh prematurely retired him in 1968; the Himachal Bench of the Delhi High Court qua…

The appellant, a Reception Officer who had been temporarily promoted to District Public Relations Officer, challenged an order that placed him below two Tourist Officers transferred from Punjab in the seniority list of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Department. The High Court had dismissed his writ petition, holding that…

The case concerned doctors who had been absorbed from the Punjab Civil Medical Service into the Central Health Service and later opted to join the newly created Himachal Pradesh Health Service. The petitioners challenged the seniority list prepared by the State, the constitution of the Departmental Promotion Committee,…