Holding

ICAR is an instrumentality of the Government and thus an "other authority" under Article 12, making it subject to writ jurisdiction, and its selection procedures that exceeded statutory limits are unconstitutional.

Summary

The case arose from several writ and review petitions filed by senior scientists of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and its affiliates alleging discrimination in pay scales, illegal selection procedures, and denial of statutory rights. The petitioners claimed that ICAR, though registered as a society, functioned as an instrumentality of the State and therefore fell within the expression "other authority" under Article 12, making it amenable to writ jurisdiction. The Court examined whether the selection committees had the power to relax essential qualifications, whether the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board could impose minimum viva‑voce marks, and whether the denial of revised pay scales violated Articles 14 and 16. It held that ICAR is indeed an agency of the Government, that the selection committees exceeded their authority, and that the ASRB’s additional viva‑voce requirement was ultra vires. Accordingly, the Court issued mandamus directing ICAR to place the petitioners on the revised pay scale, to rectify the unlawful appointment of a senior biochemist, and to set up a special assessment committee for a promotion grievance, while allowing the appeals and petitions.

Issues considered

The nature of ICAR and its affiliates: whether they constitute "other authority" under Article 12 of the Constitution.
Whether the writ jurisdiction under Articles 32 and 226 is available against ICAR.
The legality of the selection committees' power to relax essential qualifications for professorial and senior biochemist posts.
The validity of the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board's prescription of minimum viva‑voce marks contrary to Rules 13 and 14.
Whether denial of the revised pay‑scale to incumbent professors violated Articles 14 and 16.

Legislation cited

Agricultural Produce Cess Act
Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board Rules, 1977s. Rule 13, s. Rule 14
Constitution of Indias. Article 12, s. Article 14, s. Article 16, s. Article 226, s. Article 32
ICAR Ruless. Rule 100, s. Rule 18, s. Rule 91, s. Rule 98
Societies Registration Act, 1860

Subjects

Article 12other authorityICARequal paydiscriminationwrit jurisdictionselection committeeessential qualificationsASRBviva voce marksmandamuspublic employmentconstitutional law

Judgment

..

A 200
. P.K .. RAMA.CHANDRA IYE.R & ORS.
v.
UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
B

•
.. December '16, l 983
[D: A. .DESAI &. v'. BALAKRISHNA. EkADl,
. .
.TJ.] .
C01tStitution of J1tdia, 1950 Ari{{:/cs J.2 ·and 32~Indian· Gouncif of
Agricuftllral Rcse<ircl;-Whether -instrunzentiifity of Cent.rat Govern1nent-Whetl1e~
c covered by the exp'r~ssion 'other auihorities'~Whether antendable .to· writ jurisdiction ....
Articles 14, 16.and J9(d)-Pay ,~ctllc of posi of Professor revisetf-Existing
i11ctunbents ndt gi~nted tlte benefrt oj i·evised scale- New inCunzbents _granted the
• for
revised scale-:Defence of e111ployer was there. was nzarginal rei,ision in qualifiCfl.fiohs
the post-Action whether dis~rilninatory a11J unfair. :

. ·Article 16-Selection Co1;1~ittee-~h~ther.l:cis po~er rel~x
10 .cssentl:al i;u~li
D fications for the post-jurisdiction OJ Courts to interfere ttdtfl "decision of·. Selectiow.
Conunittce-When arises. ·

A-falafides~Selectjon Co111n1itlee-Qua/ificatio11 f.equirenwit relaxed to· suit
preferred .candic(at~-Sck"ction what/ler yiti"ated.

": l'ubli~ e1np/~yni~1u~Experience· to be ~f value and utility 1nust be ai::{juired
after educational qualificaiion obtained-Not while acquiring. Post-graduate qualifi-·
E catiun. .

-"Jndian Coun~il vf Agriculfui,al Research 1977, Rules.13aiu."·14 ;. Fixation "of - -.-J..
)1iinitnu111 qllalifying 1narks for tiliglhiiitJ . for viVa-voce test..,.-Further fixatiOn of (
quilti/yi11g 111ark.V to be Obtai~d at viva-11oce for final ·selection·- validity Of

Supre,nw Court Ruie~ 1966 Order XL·& Constiiution oj India, 19.!0 A~ticle LJ1.:
F f¥rit petition disf!?lssed by .High Court al/owing prelilninciry objection that. it izad no t
jurisidiCtiOn ta entertaitrpeiition_.:...High Couri becoii1es functus officio and decisio~i
· Oft 1nerits inconseq~ential-Suprf!tn"e Colirt. in .later. case over-ruling the same pre-'
litninary objeclion:........:.Si1p1·em~ Court. e1ititled. to exa1nine matter ~n merits-Review·
.ffltition .n1fiintaii1able.

. The Royal. Con1n1ission of <igriculturc coi1stituted in 1926 reconunende<l
G . tho setting .up of ihe"Imp.erial Council Of AgriCult'uriil RescarCh-ICAR~ I~ July.
1929, JCAR \Vas registered as a SociC.ty ·\vlth its offici; in. the Secretariat. · ·Jt \vas
,whq11y financed bY the Governn1ent of .Jndla. By a resolution dated. JanUary 5,
1939 the Governn1ent. of India.modified the-status of ICAR from a. department
·of the. Secretariate to one ~f ah attathed office of the Govern~ent_ 9f India .. Rec·
ruitrnent to various posts in ICAR \vas made· through the Federal Public Service
H Corllmission. Its expenses were voted Upon ·as part of the expenses ··incllrred .in
th~ Min~stry Or Agriculture. The control of the Go~enuneiit. of Indi~ perffieated

•·
P. K. lYER v. UNION. 201

through aµ its activities. To it was transferred the ~esearch Institutes set up A·
·by the Government of India. In orde~ to make.it finil.nci.ally viable-a cess _was
levied. and ihe pr~~ds wete han~ed. over to ICAR .fl?r its use. ·

On the advent of independence, the linperial Council of Agricultural :RCsearch
was redesignated as ·Indian Council _of Agricultural R~arc~. With. effect frotn
April 1, 1966 administrative Con~J,Ul over IARI and IVRI and. other institutes
was transferred to IC~~R. · ·
. . . . B-
Rule 18 of the !CAR Rules provided· that the ·Society shall establish and
inaintain its own·om.ce, ResearchJnstitutes and Laboratories and that the appoint-·
meats to the ·_various posts .should be ·made in a~rdan~- wiih the Recruitmea,t
Rules framed by t\le Governillg Body. .This rule \Y~ich ·was kept in ~beyance. in
January 10, 1966 was bro1:1g:hf into operation in. itS . entirety .eft'eCtive_ from Apri1-·1~
1974. Tlie consequenCes of.this rule· becoming ·operative was ·that ~e·.secretariat
o f~9AR ~<ised to pe· an attached o~ce of the-Ministry of Food and Ag_ric;Ulture. · c
The Indian Veterinary. Research Institute \vas one of the.institu(es und.Cr the
adininistrative control of ICAR. The poSt of ProfesSor ln JVRI in 1958 carried the
paY. s6a:le bf Rs. 700-1250." There were· 6 p~sts of Prore~sor in. various disCiPI~nes.
Three posts of Profe"ssors were held by. the petitioriers in Wdt Petition N.o. 587/75.
On the introduCtioil of the pay-scales 'recOmmerided by the University Grants
Comrnission, ·the p.iy-scale attached to tl1e Post cif Professor in the· Institute -was D
ievised to Rs·. 1100-1600 during the ye·ar 1970-71 and: six new posts o:f _·ProfeSsOrs
in .Various d.isciplines created. Each of the petitioners· who was ·a1ready holding ..
the posts of Professor was not given the ~nefii of the upgraded pay-scales,- while
the new incumbents recruited t(>the newly created post were awar.ded the revised •
'·p"y~scales. This led to ,disturbance in the inter se seniOritY in the cadre of .PfO-
fessors. In the Wdt Petition \V.P. No. 587/75 to this Court it was contended that
3.s the petitioners fulfilled· the minimunl' qualification•· prescribed for thC post E·
after ui)ward revi~ion Of the pay-scales4 denial of· the revised Pay-scales was dis:.
criminatory and violative ~of Article 14, and t~roughly .arbitrary and u_njustified. :'

On behalf of respondents it was asse(ted that the ~evised scale was not.to-~
autotnaticatly granted to the petitioners-the e~isting holders, ·as the newly crOO.ted
po~ts in the cadre of PrOfessor was not the same as the. ·exist1ni-post~ as there Was ~
margin.al revision in the qua!ifications for_ the post of Professor in the revised SCC'le.
F.
.Th~·petitioner i.n the Re'viCw Petition.No .. 4J77 sought the reView ~f ·the]udg-
inent of this Court dated 3~d October, 1975 'in the Special Leave Petition No. 2339/
15. He had filed a.wi:it petition in the High ·court:questioning the con·ectness
of tbe. setOCtion o{respondent No .. O.for.the post of Senior Bio-Cbemist·as he dfd·
not possess the" essential qualification, .and the order remOving him from the me'm-
ber-ship ·of the post-graduate f~Culty' Or_ Indian Agriculture Research Jnstituie. ·.
Th_iS petition was '.fesisted by the respondents, on the.ground that neither ICAR G
nor IVRI was either a 'State or other a~thoiity' Within the mecinlng·of the e~pression -·
in Article .12 of the Constitution. It \Vas further colltended that the Selection·.
Comffiittee.had the-po\ver to relax the 6.ssential ,qualificati0nS pf:itainh1g to expefi~ .
ence, and t.hat ·the Committee consisted of experts who were highly qualified persons,
able at evalu'ating and assessing the relative merits of· each of the candidateS, and
that, it \voiild be w1wise to substitute eX.pert's ·decision by Court's decisions. The
\Yrit Peti~on was dismtsSed by the High Court on_ the groun_d that ICAR being
202 · S~PREME COURT REPORTS [19S4]"2 s.c.R.
A·· " a s?ciety registered ut~dc< ~he SocietieS Registration Act; it was "neither a 'State
or other authority' withih the contemplation of Article .12.. It was further bcld ~
· : that the relationship belw.:en the petitioner 3.nd iCAR was governed by fhe rules
.aOd the bye-laws of the Society and ICAR 'vas free to fill the post of Senior Bio-
:chCmist in any manner it liked, ·and that'as the Petitione·r was not removed from
a
the rrieln~rship of the F3.culty,_but c~ased to -be· n1en1bcr, it was· not necessary
to hear hinl. ·
8 This Court upheld th~ decisiOn of the High Court.by its j,udgnrent in S.L.P.
No. 2339/75 and also rejected R.P. No. 79/76,

The Petitioner in Re'4l';'V ..Petition No. 80/76 so.ught review of the jud!;ment
. in S.L.P.
. No.·702.of
. 1976 which was disposed -
of along
. with
. S.L.P. No. 2339/1975. ·
·The appellant in C.A.· N·o. 1043of1981 filed a writ petition "in the High Cour·t
c he
allcigi'ng that was selected_ f9r the post of Senio_r Computer in the indian Agri-
an
culture Statistics Research Institute~ affiliate of lCAR." . The ICAR set up the.
,A~ricultur.11 Scientists ReCruittnent Board-ASRB which fran1ed rules in 1977
artd decided to hold a competitive examin~tion in 1978 to recruit scientists. S~Icc
tion was to be made _by a competitive exan1inµtion Con1prisii1g a written test carrying
·. 600 marks in the aggregate and viva-vOce test carrying 100· marks. Jt _was furthCr
'prOvided that anYone to be el~gile for b~ing ad1nittCd in the merit list should also
D : have the additional qualific~-tio.n .of at least obtaini.ng. 40 1narks in the viVa-vot:c
test. The appellant contended that he has ~eCured 364. n1arks out of 600 in the
written examination and 38 1narks out of 100 In the viva-voce tpst, ind that the
actio11. of Boilrd in fixing ni.inimum· qualifyiilg marks in the viva-vocc exa1nination
arid basing the final selection on this criterion lacked both the aO.thority of law
and :rules. The High Court dismissed the Writ Petition in lilnine.

E
' .
Allowing the Review Petitions, Writ Petition and Appesa.l :
- '
HELD : 1. (i) In writ petition ·No. 587/75, the !CAR is directed by a {
~
mandamus to put tho thice petitioners in the revised scale of Rs. 1100-1600
sanctioned for .the post of Professor effective from ihe day when others selected·
as ProfC:ssOrs ·in sister disciplines. were awarded the revised scale of Rs.
1100-1600. [247 A]
F (ii) In Special Leave Petition No. 2339/75, the !CAR is directed by a
iniridamus 'tO. award to Dr. Y.P: Gupta the scale of Rs. 1800-2250 fron1 the date
_the same was given· to r~pondent.No. '6,".Dr. S.L. Mehta. The arrears payable
" putsuant to the direCtion shall be paid within 3 mon_ths. Dr. Y.P. Gupta to be
taken back as a men1ber of the Faculty of·the post-graduate school of IARI with_in
• periQd of > month•. [247 Bl
G
.
r (iii) In S.L.P; N:o. 702/76, it is directed that a'special Assessrr_ient Corimlittee
may be set up to examine the case of Dr." T.S. Ra1nan for promotion to S-3 grade
. .
within a p"eriod. o.f 3 months. (247 DJ. . . .. ·

(iv) ln.C.A. 1043/81, the ICAR. a'nd ASRB are directed to Prepare the· merit
list in respect of those candidates who were called for viva voce test, but were not
H included in the merit list On the aggregate o·f ffiatks obtained by them. If there
· · ls ·a vacancYand the aPpellant cOmes wi~hin the zone of selection he shall be
·'

P. K. IYER V. UNION 2o3
appointed. The appoifltn1ent \vould be prospective and would be- effective from A
the date of the appointn1cnt. [247 E-F]

2.· (I) _Apart fro1n. the criteria devised by fhc jt.idicial elicta, the very birth
of ICAR and its continued existence over half a century and its present p0Sitio1'l ·
would Ieive no dOubt that ICAR. is almost an inseparable adjunct of the GOvern-
1nent of India having an outward forn1 of being a So_cif!'ty. it could be styled as a
Society set up by the State and therefore; would be_ an instrumentality or. agency B
of the Central Governmcrit and therefore, it is 'other authority'. within the meaning
of the expression in Article l~, and the writ ju.risdiction can be invoked against
it. [216 BJ •

(ii) !CAR.came into·existcnce as an integral dcparti11c1H of·thc.Govern111ent
of. 1ndi.-i. and liter on ·became an attached offi:_ce of the Central GoVerntttent. The
composition of.the lCAR as evidenced by_·Rulc 3 could not have been more gov~
crnn1cntal in character than any dcpartrii.cnt·of the Govermnent. The Governing c
a
. Body of the Society' Cbns,ist of a President of the Society,· \Vho is n'onc other than·
Cabinet Minister of the Governriicnt of India. Other. n1en1bers of the Governing
Body are en1inent scientistS. nof exce~ding nine in 1fun1ber to be appointed. ' by -the
President; there· is none outsirie the Governn1ent in- the GoV'c_riling . ·nady. Rule,
98 1nakes it ·abundantly clear that the Rules of _the SOciety can neither be.altered •
nor amended exCep~ with the sanctio.n Of the ·Governn1ent of India. - Rllle 100
shows that the Rules becarnc ojJerative after they were approved by the Governn1ent D
. Of India. The audited accounts of the Society a·long with the auditor.'s report'
thereon were to be placed before the Society at its An1iual General M~eting and
also on the table of the Houses of Parliament. Rule 18 provides that the appoint-
1ner~t to various posts under the s.ociety ·shall be 1nade in accordance with the
, Recruitment Rules frarned for the purpose by the GovenliJig .Body with the prior
approval Of the Government of India·. The ad1ninistrative a~d -the financial ·con~
teal of the Governn1ent is alf pervasive. The rules and bye-laws of the Society E
· can be framed, amended ·or repeal"ect only. With the. sa'nc~ion of the GoVeinment
of India. [219 E-F; 220 B-FJ •

Sabhajif Tewary .V. U.O.I. [l975J3 SCR 616 -distinguished and ~imited and.
U;P. Warehousing .Corporation v._ Vijay. Narain [1980J 3 SCC 45~ referred to.

3. The· guarantee of equ.ality- in all its pervasive character enables. this · F
Court to ren1ove discri1ni1la.tion and to restore fair play in action . .{226.C]

The instant" cil.se, is a glaring example of discrirrllnatory treatn1ent accorded
.to old experienced and highly qualified hands with an evil eye and uneq'ual hand.
No attempt was made to sUstain tbe scales of l)ay for the post of Pr~fessOr on the
· doctr.ine of classification because the· classification 9f existing incumbents as being
distinct ai1d separate froni newly recfu.ited hands with fimsy change in essential
qualification ·would be wholly irrationar and arbitrary. T~e case of the petitioners G
fof being.put in the revised sccile of Rs fI00-1600 from the date" on which newly
created Posts of Professors in Sister disciplines in IVRI and other institutes were
created and filled in revised scaie iS ~nanswer<' ble and mu~t be conCeded l226 .B~DJ
Randhir Singh v· U.O.l (1982] 1 SCC 618, referred to.
4 . The mo1nent the High Court held that it had no JuriSdictiOn to· entertain H
· he writ petition, it becan1e /tfltctus officio and there[ore·, its decision on the merit
.,
204 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1984] 2 s.c.R.

A of the C.ontcrition··is ·or no consi;:Quen~ and.at any rate could not concltide the
mat~Cr.- Now that.it has been held _that the writ·peti~ion is maintainable.·on· the
finding th!l-t IC~R and its·_affiliates a~e othCr authority within· the me~ning of the_
~xpr.cssion in Article 12, justice ckmands that the court must examine th(: ~on
tentions On merit. The ptelimii:ia:ry objeciion. over-ruled and ·~e ievie\v petition
allowed. [229 F-G] ·
I

· s·. ,· It is w~ll--settfed -th;t expefience to·l,Je .of valu~ and utility n1ust be acquired·
B af~r tl).e educ'1tonal qualification is obtained-·and hot while acQUirtng the post-
graduate quahficatiOn. [232 A]

• ._in the ii!stant case, preParing thesis Clfter giadu<'tion {o'r· acquiring post-~
graduate degree .would rtot count toWr:n:ds presCrlbed ·experienct · -qua_lificatidn. ln
th~ case of Ph.D °.cteg:ee·awarded on research the situatic~n nlay be diffe;e11:t. .[232 BJ

c 6. 'The Court must IoOk \Vith.resp~,ct tipbn th~ pcrformi>.nce Of dutieS
experts· in. their respective. fields. However,_ the .task of.. ushering. z .Society based.
by
'on rule of law is erl1:rust.Cd io this court and it cannot abdicate· its function$. · Once'
it is fllPSt satisfactorily established- tl'l:at the Selection Conunitteci did O:ot. have thC
power ·to relax i.:ssential qualification peftaining to expefience, ' .. the eritire process
-Of 5".ilec.tiOri of thi 6th respondent was in contr:avention of the established nom1s
, prescribed. by the advertiseinent and Power of the Sdectio~ Coffimittee and pro.; .
D ccdure for fair and jusl seleC.tio11 and equality in the ffiatter of public ~mployme1lt
and. to_ rectify resultant inji.i.stice and· esiabiish -constih.itional value this Court
must interfere. [234 I>-EJ · · ·

_Stale "fBihar v. Dr. Asis Ku111a~ Mukherjee [i975] ~ SCR 894, referred .to.·
. ' - ' ' .
In the instant CTJ$e, the first Selection Committee examined. the suit!lbility
of seven crndidates including _the petiiiollef~ and ~pecifically recorded its, finding
E. that none of the candidates .. interviewed or cOnside.red in absentia including : .
respondent No. 6 Who w3.$ selected at. a la:ter. stage~ fu~lled a~l .the esseiltial
quali_ficatio-ns laid down for : the post. Ttie Committee recommended that ..
·the post be re-advertised -after ~mplyfying the essential qualificatiOn jn the
. mt'ltter of exPerience, Viz. '10 yea1;s research exper.ienCe in the field of protein
Chemis_try?. .The -post. was the post of Senior. Bio-chemist. Jnitialy experience
. required was·in _the fiei<l of Nutrition with p:iticulilr reference tO Qu(l'ntity and
F · · .Quality of protein in food grainS as.evidenced by· published work i,yhile'the ampli-
. fied esselltial qualification was-research·experience ill the field of protein Cheffiistry..
It is difficult to efface the i~pression that the amplification was done· .keeping in
· View the qualification'- whic~ respondent No;' 6 ha.d .. ·~oreovcr respondent No. 6 ·
, appeared not· tc c8-rry on research. in th.e line of Nutrition o.r protein Chemistry
·3rid therefore h~. did not fulfil· the qualification at <'ll and he could not therefore
haVe even bee~ Called for interview by the Selection Committee. The .Selection
Committee alsO did nOt h.ave the- power to relax the essential qu"lificati'on, fo.r th~ .
post; ·The seleCtjon of respOitdent NC1; 6 is. contrary to ·rules and orders. aiid in ·
violation o( prescribed norn1s~ ·He. was ifieligible. for the poSt when seleCted a~~ his
selcction.. nd appointment has to be quashed and set aside, [230 G·G, 233 E-F, 234 F] '

1.· Th~·High Court was·clearly in err.or in.obsl.:"rving that eit~er Dr. Raw_n·
H (petitioner in R.P. No. 80176) was not hopeful of getting the job or he had some ·
other reasons for Dot applying for the same .and therefore his grievance· cannot
P."K. IYER ·V. UNION. 205

be entert"ined. This ·is clearly contrary to record. -He had applied earlier and - A'
) w_ s entitled to be called--fcir interview as noted in the proceedings. It w~~; obli-
gatorY upon the second ·selection -Comrriittee ·10 _inform -him to appear for t~e
intervi'e and adequate .steps should have been taken to give the intirriation '"because
he was attached t9 the institute and .was ·in ~ctive sCr1ice of.the institute and intima-
iion to him would not require any herculern ·effort on the. p?.rt :of the Committee.
But he.-has been-assesSed thrice 'by the Assessment Committee for p~Omoti0n to
S-3 grade. and found wantin~. · T~e Insti.tute sh~ll set up a speth.•l ~~sessment
B
Committye t9. 3ssess· his sllitability. for promotio~ t,o .S-3 gr_ade ·by ~xamltfing his
work.from 1976.. He is.not entitled to any further relie.f. [239 0-240A, 241 EJ

__ ,
8. A combip~d-re3ding. of_Ruies · 13 and 14; indicate that, it i~ open to
the Agricuitu:faI Scientist Recruitment Bciard to prescribe minirhtirn marks which
the candidates must obtain at the written test before becoming eligible for viVa-voce
test. After the Candiclaie obtain~ minimum marks or· more at the written test he
c
... .becomes. eligible "for being called for .viva-,voce test, ~nd he has t() appeir at the
viva-voce test. Neither Rule· 13 nor Rule 14 nor any other rule enables. tti~- ASR'B.
,'-to prescribe nlinimum qualifying marks to be obtained by the_ cilndidate at the
viva-voce fus_t. The language ·of Rule 14 clearly- negatiyes any s"ucb power in the·.
ASRB when it provides that after the, written test if the c..1.ndidate hfl,s obtaiqed ·
1Tiinim,um marks, he is eligible for being ·Cfllled for viva...voce test and the final merit
list would -be. drawn up according to the aggregate of ·marks obtained-by the can-
didate .-in. : wd°tten teSt plus viva-voce examination. {244 D-fJ ·
Ii:i the instant ~ase; (CA N~ .. 1043/81) ihe :adctiti6nal qualificat!On \vhich
:ASRB prescribed tO_ itself that-the ·candidate must have a further qualificatiori
· obtaining minimum markS in the viva-vocc. test dves not fi.nd place in Rules· 13 ilnd
and 14. If such ·power is 2!aimed, it h~s to be explicit and. cannot be read ·by
) neces'sary .iinplication for the Obvious rcasoll that such deviation from the rules .
is likely. to cause irrepearable and irre'versible ·ham1. onW an additional qualifica- E
tion Of obtainin.g.mininlun1·. marks.at_thc viva-voce test fa· adhered to, a candidate
_who. may figure high-up in thC metit-list was likely.to be rejected on th"e ground
. that ·h~ .has not obtained n1ihimum. qualifying marks· at viva·vOce· test.. ~s list
... ·~.·· prepared in contravention of the Rules caiinot be sustained. ··However, it" is not
possible at this late stage to reject'· the entire seleCtion and it would be
equally
ii:nproper tO disturb the selec.tion. of those who had b~n_ selected and :~ppointed
way back .in 1978. If there is a·vacancY.and if the appellant comes within.the zone F
of selection on the aggregate of inarks obtained by hin1. his case shall -be con~
Sidered for appointm<!nt prospectively and n·Ot rctropsectively. -1244 G-H; 245 C;
~D;~ . . .

· ORIGIN~L JuRISDicTION : Writ Petition No. 587 of 1975
(Under article 32 of the ConstHution) G.
with.

Review Petition No. 4 of 1977
•
(@SLP (Civil) No. 2339 •of 1975 & H
Reyiew Petition No.' 79/76) ·.

•
•
•

206 SUPREME COURT REPORT.S, [1984}2 S.C.R.

A and

Review Petition No. 80 of 1976
(Arising '0;1t of SLP (Civil) No. 702 of 1976)
.
and

B . Civil
. . Appeal
. No. 1043 of 1981 .

Appeal· by Special leave from the Judgment ;111d Order .,dated .•
tire Sth May, 1980 of the Delhi High Court in Civil Writ Petition
No. 553 of 1980.,. ~

c .YogeshwarPrasad and Mrs Rani Chhabra for the Petitioner in
WP. 5.87/7.5 & RP. No .. 4/77.

M.G. R amchandran for the Appellant in CA.· .No. 1043 of 1981.
•
. (

-
',.c,,;,.....--..

· Abdul Khader, Mi.<s .A" Suhhashini and Girish Chandra for the
D Respondent in WP. 587/75.

K.G. Bhagar~ Addi. Sol: Gene;a/ and Ms. A. Subhashini for the
Rcspoudent in RP. No. 4/77. .

'b,. Gobwdhan and C.V. Subba Rao for ·Resnc-1id.enl m CA.
E No. 1043 of 1981.

'
B.N.. 'Lokur, and. C.N. Ralnaparkhi for Respondents. 2-7 in
WP. No. 587 of 1975. .. 1
(

Judgment of the Cour; was delivered by

DESAI, .J. Tn th.is group '.of writ pet1t1on, civil ·appeal. special
leave p~titiqn and review petitions, a_ common que.:~tion_ of la\v. is
raised whether Indian Council of Agricultural Re.search ('lC AR for
short) ·and its affiliate Indian Veterinary . Research Institute (lVRI ·
for shortfare either itself tlie·Sta{e or such other authority .as would
G be comprehended in the.expression 'other authority in Art. 12 of the
Constitution 7

. Re: 'W.P. No. 587/75 :
• . . .

H Pe;itioner No. l was Professor of. Animal Patholcgy, pet1ticmr
No. 2 was Professor of Animal Genetics and petitioner No. 3 was
•

•
• ~. K. IYER ":UNION (Desai, J.) 207
•
·Professor of. Veterinary Parasitology, all attached to IVRJ. Six A
posts of Professors one each in Animal Pathology, Animal Genetics.
I Velerinary Parasitology, Animal Nutrition, Bacteriology and' Phy-
...
siology were created on the i1itroduction of the post-graduate wing •
in IVRI in 195.8 .At the relevant time ·the post of Professor carried
the scale of Rs. 700-)250. Of the six posts, first mentioned, three
posts of Professors were held by the petiti~ners in their respective B
·discipline, ·On lhe introduction of the scales recommended by th.e ·
University Grants Commissio~. the pay scale attached to the post
of Professer in IVRl was revised to Rs. 1100-1609: After the up-·
ward revision during the year 1970-71, the cadre of Professors in· IVRJ
was expanded b'r -creating six ne\\'. . ·post of Professors in vafiouS
disciplines. Surprisingly, ach of· the petitioners, ,who ·was already c
-
-·~
holding post of Professor, was not given the benefit of the upgraded
scale attached. to the post of Professor wliile ol) the other hand. the
new·incumbent recruited in .the newly created posts in the year
1970-?°f were a warded the revised scale of Rs. 1100-1600. ·This led .to
the disturbance in the inter se seniority in the .cadre of Professors
" and manifested· an anomalous. position that the old incumbents of • D
the posts. of Professors such as petitioners, ·continued in the pre-
revised scale of Rs· 7bO-l250 while .the new incumbents were put in the
revised scale of.Rs I 100-1600 both having the.designation of Professor
and there is no appreciable difference· in the qualifications attached
to .the post .. )Vhen this was. brought to the notice of the authori\ics
concerned, the ICAR With the con•urrcnce of the Minisfry of Finance E
). resolved .'as per. decision dated· April 6, 1972 to ·award the·· revised
scale of pay attached to the post of Professor to the· peNioners, b11t
this was subject to the condition that it wollld not be automatic but
~ the existing incumbents of posts may be considered for revised scale
"" ·along with other suitable .Persons. Tt was imp'.ieit in· the condition
prescribed that the petitioners wi~ have to stand ·in. competition ;,ith F
others applications, if there be any, and go througli the ha+ard of a .
.°" fresh selection for tlle post each one was alreadv. holding.. This is
the' first grievance voiced by the petitioners in the writ petition con-.
tending that the petitioners were qualified for the posts of Professor.
and that ea~h of them was holding the post from 1963, 1970 and 1970
•. respectively. TM petitioners made. various representations basing G
their claim inter a/ia on fair play, equality of opportunity.in.the matter
of public employment arid equal pay for equal work as well as the
provision co11tained in Fundamental Rule -23. The petitioners ~Jsci·
~ .contend that they fulfil the minimum qualification prescribed for the
· post.a_fer upward rt:,vision of the pay~sca1e; and they_have the. requfsi1&. H
.
experience and ihat they are. performing the same or identical duties
. .

.•
'·
•
208
.. SUPREME COURT RF.PORTS ·. [1984] 2 S.C.R.

A a; are being performed by ne\VlY recruited. Professors in sister di~"
ciplines, and that denial to the1n of the revised pay scales for. foe post
.
of Professor .aparf. from being . discriminatory .and violative . of Art: 14·
is thoroughly arbitrary ancf unjustified. lt .appears that pursirnnt
to the didsion dated April 6,' 1972, the ICAR 'issued an adyertisement
on May 21, 1974 inviting applications for the post of ProfeBsor in
B. . . Animal· Pathology,. Animal Genetic$ .and Veterinary Parasitology
· in the revised scale of Rs. I J00,!·600: These were 'the posts alrea.dv
held· by petitioners. The advertisement set .out ·the .essent.ial and
·desirable qualifications ·for each post. Petitioners contend that
the duties pertaining to the post of Professor in the upgraded scale
are' the same· as performed by the petitioners and that this action
c' . of inviting f~esh applications for post already held by ·the petitioners
disclosod a cover attempt t0 remove the petitioners. 'from the posts
held by them for years. ·-Petitioners further contend that only three
po·sts ·held by the. petitioners have been advertised inviting the aj:lpii-
cations for fresh recruitment while there we.re others .\vho were ho'ding
-
posts .of Professors in the pre-revfsed ·scale .and. to whom bendlt of y

D automatic upward revision was granted and this disclcscd n-0t cnly
the bias of the ICAR but also· subjected the petitioners to grcss dis-
crimination. Serious allegations of bias :ind malafid.o have been ·
mad·e·against respondent No .. 6, the Director or' IVRI, and Director
General ufJCAR, which.need not be set out here. It may, however,
lie .stated that tho.ugh the \·a~ious functionaries workihg .in IVRI
and TCAR are highly qualified persons, profes~ional rivalry had led
to such poisonini; of the· atmosphere and character assassination
·had become so rampant and the. environment had become so snffo- ,
cati~g that the ·Government of India ·had to appoint a Committee -·-1
presided·over by late Shri P.D. Gajendragadbr, retired Chief Justice ··
of the Supreme Court' with wide terms of reference which. amongst
F others included' the recruitment· and personnel policies. of !CAR as
well as Institutes a!id Centres working under it and io suggest rnearnrcs '!"
· for th,eir improvemen\. It is alleged that absolutely incmrcct, imprc·- ·'
per and prejudiced .entries are made. ii1 confidential reports with a·
vieiv to harming foe. ~areer of the perso~s who have fallen froin the
grace of the Directo.r al)d that therefore, the C'ourt,should .lift the
G veil. of the so'called society and peep i1ito the realities of life. The .
... petitioners ,,ccordingly prayed for an appropriate writ, order or .
direction to quash ihe advertisement dated May 21, .1975 inviting .
•
applicatfons for the· posts nf Professors in three subjects already held
by th.e petitioners and to confirm 'the petitionerS'in the aforemeiltion(d
.H p:ists and tc'i give them the benefit of the !'fOVised.scale from the date
from whkh. fr was given try Professors in sister disciplines and to quash
P. K. IYER v. UNION.(Desai, J.) 209
the adverse entries in' the confidential ~eports of the three petitioners. A
On these averments petitioners filed the present writ petition under
Art. 32 of the Constitution.
..
Re : S.LP. No. 2339/75 with R.P. No. 4/77 :

·one Dr. Y.P. Gupta filed Writ Petition No. 276 of 1972 in the B
High Court of Delhi questibning the correc.tness of the order removing
,. him as member of the faculty of the post-graduate school of· Indian
Agricultural Research Institute {IARI for short). Petitioner Dr.
Gupta alsll' questioned the. validity of appointment of Dr. S.L. Mehta

- respondent No. 6 in the High Court to the post of Senior ,Bio-chemist
·in IARl and claim.ed. that he was entitled to. be appointed .to that
post. This petition was resisted by the respondents primarily on
·the ground that neither ICAR not IVRl is either a State or• other
authority within· the meaning· of the expression in Art. 12 of the
c

Constitution, When the matter came- up before the Division 'Bench
of the Delhi High Court, a .direction was given that in view of the
importance of the questions that arise for determination in the writ
. ·petition before the court and in view of the .various decisio.n which . •
'have to be recpnciled, the petition should .be heard by a larger Bench.·
Pursuant to this direction, the matter came up before a Bench of five
Judges. The larger Bench formulated four questions for its consi-
derations :
E
''.I. Do the petit1oners have legal right to chaUen~e the

- 2.
appointment of respondent 6 ?

Has .the Director-General of the !CAR acted in· con'
.travention of any legal obligation in making the appoint-
ment. of respondent 6 .? F
.3. Has the said appointment vitiated by the mala fides of
Dr. ·swaminathan and/or of Dr. Naik?

4. Was it bad because of the want of qualifications .of Dr. . .

Mehta 0r non-compliance with the prescribed procedure G
in_ making it ?" ·

The court answered the fint question against the· petitioner
h~lding tQ.at ICAR is a society registered under the Societies Registra-
tl'on Act and it is neither a State nor other authority within contempla- H
tio< of Art. i2 of the ~onstitution. The court further held that
210 · SUP.REME COUl\T REPORTS (1984] 2 S C R.,

A the. relaii.on between the petitioner and ICAR' is gMerned by a con- ·
tract and the r~les and the bye-la\vs or tl1e Society .and !CAR was :'>._
•· free to fill in the post of Senior Bio-chemiste in any manner it llked.
The court observed that .the petitioner being· a mere employee, he •
has no legal right agafost the employer and in the .absence of 'any·
· statutory elemen{ governing his emplo)'ment, the relation is governed
purely by .a contract. and a· breach. of contract, if any, would. ·not
permit a declaration in favour of the petiticner. Bri<fly, the .court
held that the remedy by way of writ is not available against !CAR.
On the second question the court held that the Director-General
owed no obligation or legal duty in making the ~ppointment of the

-
sixth respondent which can be. enforced by a writ. ·petition. · Questions
c Nos. 3 and 4 were cdea!Uogetber and it was held that the pleadings
. were inadequate to permit a finding. of ma]a fide and in the absence
of proof there. is nothing to show tl1at .the· appointment of the sixth
res~ondent was vitiated either by mala fides. or by ·non-compliance ·
with procedure.. Consistent wjth .these findings, the writ pe.tition ·
. of Dr. ·Gupta was dismissed. Simultaneously, the writ . petition
D filed by one Dre T.S. Raman being Writ Petition Ne. 669/72 was
• dismissed. by the common iu4gmcnt:

Dr. Y.P: Gupta ii.Jed S.L.P. No. 2339 of J97.5 in this Court.
On O:ofober 6, 1975, this Court.directed a notice to be· issued to ibc
·respondents to sh~w cause why special leave to 'appeal· shoui<l 1iot
E. · be ..gra.nted. · When the .m1ttCr came up again before this Cm.irt on
July 2!, 1976, Mr. Lokur, 'learned counsel. appearing for the !CAR

-
.stated to the Court that the respondent-council would consider the ·.: ·-f.
question of taking back the petitioner as
a member of the post-
graduate faculty ofIARf. After recording this statemei1t, the Special
leave potition was · disljlissed. ·Petitioner. Dr. Gupta filed Review
F .Petition No. 79 or 1976 requesting the Court to review its. order
dismissing the special le~ve petition. This review petiticn was rejected . · y
on October 27, 1976. As second review petition wns not .barrecl"
at the relevant time, Dr. Gupta filed Review Pctitien No. 4/77 which
is.· directed to be heard in th.e present group of appeal, writ petition
• · and special leave· petition.
G
· J?e : R.P. No·. ·so of1976. : Dr.T.S. Raman whose Writ Petiti~n
No. 669 of 1972· was heard along with Writ Petiticn of Dr. Gupta
and which was a!s'o dismissed by the common judgment, filed Special
Leave Petition ·No. 702 of 1976 in this Court·. This petition was
·R · dismissed by the .Court on Augu.t 30, 1976. · Dr. T:S. Raman filed
.
Rovieiv P.otition No. 80 of. 1976 which iS . being heard i.n this group.
..
P. K. IYER v. UNION (Desai, J.) . 211

Re: CA. No. 1043/81 : Appellant Dr. Om Prakash .Khauduri A
fifod Writ Petition No. 553 of 1980 in the High Court of Delhi alleging
•. .. that he· was selected for the post of Senior Computer with Ifidian
Agricultural Statistics Research Institutes, ana affiliate of.JCA'R.
· iCAR set up Agricultural Scientists Recruit~ent Board (ASRB) ·which
• deCided to hold a competitive examination to recruit scientists to be
appointc'd under various disciplines. ICAR framed rules setting . ' B
...
out the terms and conditions for ac,\mission to. the competitive exami-
ri~tion .. Appell~nt applied for admission to the ~ompetitive examina-
tion iii 'Agricultural Statistics' . .'discipiline. The written test ·was

-
----.;.,'

..
ldd froni 1st to 4th February, 1978: The Board incharge of . the
selection and appointment on. the comparative merits as evidenced
by the performance in the w1'itten examination selected 20 candidates
· i~cluding the appeUant as ~aving obtaine~,e pres~ribed qualifying
marks for. the purpose .of viva voce examilra'tion which was held on
.. c

. April !0th and llth, 1978. Aftedhe viva voce test, 13 candidates .,
1iuro declared as successful.and were offered appointment a·s scientists
in the di,eipline 'Agricultural statistics'. The appellant failed to
qualify for the. same. According to the appellant, 21 vacal)cies
i·omained unfilled: · Appellant contends that he h1!'il secured -364
marks out of 600 in tl\.e written examination and 3il m'arks out of
JOO in the. viva voce test. · It is alleged that the appellant was declared
. Un5uccessfu\ because the .Board incharge of the examinqtion ·has by
itself .·determined without any authority· that anvortc who obta;ned
less.than40 marks atthe viva· voce examination would not be eligible
for selection for the posts. · It is therefore, contended that the action
'of the BJard _in fixing minimum qualifying' in arks in the viva voce ·
examination and basing the final selection on this arbitrarily .fixed
criteriou lacks both the authority of law and rules and. thai the B.o.ard
..,... has acted arbitrarily and without the authority of law; ·Appellant
·accordingly ..made representa.tions \)ut failed- to cvqke a sympathetic
reply, and therefore, the appellant filed a writ petition in. the High
. Court of Delhi which was dismissed -in limine on 'the ground that .the ·
writ petition ·against ·,the resppndent was not maintainabl~. Hence .,
this appeal by special leave.

·ordinarily one ·would. sincerely .deplore th.e d·elay in disposal G
of a problem brought before the Court, but occasionally, one comes
ac1:oss a case in which the sheer passage of time and the fast removing
.. scenario of changing pattern of .law resolves the. dispute to some
extent .
H
Mr.- Lokur appearing for I<;AR raised a preliminary objection
•

212 SUPREME .COURT REPORTS [I 984] 2 s.c.11. ..

that ICAR is not an agency or instrumentality of the State and there-
A
fore it is not .comprehended in the expression 'other authority' within
the meaning of the· expression in Art. 12 of the Constitution and •
thereVire the High Court was fully justified in throwing out the petition
at the threshold: ·Mr. Lokur directed a frontal ·attack drawing sus-
tenance from the decision of Delhi High Court that JCAR being a
· Society registered under the Societies Registration Ac.t and being
B
. neither a State ncrother authority within t~e tontempla·ticn of.Art. 12
nor an instrumentality of the State, writ jurisdiction of the High
Court cannot .be ,invoked against it. Sabhajit Tewary y. Union of
: India & Ors. <ll was the sheet anchor of M;. Lokur's extensive sub-.

-
'-~-.
(
missions because in.· that case a Constitution Bench presided over
c by· the then Chief Justice ruled that the Council of Scientific and ·
lndi1strial Research, a&J_ciety registered mider theSccieties Registra:
lion Act, was neither a ST!\te .nor other auothrity within the contempla-
• tion ·or Art. 12 and · therefore, the writ petition was ·held not to he :
maintainable against ii. And even though this matter had became
·part-heard .in 1980 and the ·hearing was resumed in 1983 before a
D different Bench, the vigour of the sustained attack was not the leasi
dimmed even "though the law expanding the width and ambit of the
expression 'State·· ·and 'other .. a.thuority' in ..<rt. 12 had taken strides
culminating in Ajay Hasia ~tc. v. Khalid Mujib' Sehrarardi & Ors.
etc, <2> And Mi. Lokur continued his submission with unabated fury
even though the learned Solicitor General Shri K. Parasharai:t appea-
.E ring for the Union of India fairly conceded that in view of the cir-
cumstances disdosed in the case and the tre.nd of the decsioris, it is. ~
· not possible to contend that ICAR and its affiliates JVRI and JAR!
walud riot be other authority.being instrumentalities of the Siate and
· . against which writ jurisdiction could be invoked .
•
F A very brief resume of the history of ICAR commencing from
its initial set up and its development into its· present position would
show that as a matter of form, it .is a· society registered under the
Societies, Registration Act but substantially when set up it was an
adjunct ofthe ·Government of India and has not ·unde.rgone. any note- '
worthy change .. On the advent of the· provincial a'!tonomy under
G the Government of India Act, 1919, 'agriculture' and 'miimal lms-
bandry' .ca1~e under the heading 'transferred sUdject' with the result ).
that they came within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Pre v)ncial
Goyern~ent · Development ·or agriculture and research in agriculture

H co [1975) 3 s.c.R. 616.
(2) [19811 2 S.C.R. 79.
'
- P. K. IYBR v. UNION (Desai,.J.) 213

became the_ responsibility of the Provincial Government. Even A
then ·a Royal Commission· on agriculture was constituted in 1926
to enquire into the agricultural set up and the rural economy of the
· country a.nd to make recommendations to consider what firm steps
• . -are necessary to be tal<en by the Central Government in this behalf!
The Commission in its· report recommended the setting-up of Imperial
• . Council ofAgricultural Research, ·Acting upon this recommendation·,
Government of India sent· a telegram to the Secretary of. State on
B
April 24, 1929 informing the latter that the process of setting up of the
Council is under way and that when setup Council would be a Society.'
On May 9, 1929, Secretary of State appr"oved the· proposal of the·
Government of India subject to variations mentioned therein .. By

- ··its Resolution dated May 23, 1929, the Central Government directed
that Imperial Counci!" of Agricultural Research should be registered
as a Society under the Registration of Societies Act •. X.XI of 1860.
c
The Resolution
. .
further provided that with respeci to the grant to be
made to the Co1;ncil to meet the cost of staff, establishment etc.;
the Government of India decided that for reasons of administrative
convenience, it should be in the same position as a department of D
the Government of Indi;t Secretariat. The Imperial Council of
Agricultural Research was s.et up in June .1929. A direction was also
given that the research institutes were to be m_aintained by the Council.
Intheir counter-affidavit filed in the High Court of Delhi it was
conceded in paragraph 27 that the Imperial Council of Agricultural
Research should in future be an attached.office and not the department E
of the Government to be entirely manned by Government staff and
the secretariat staff of the. Council was to. be paid· from the grant to

- be given by the Government ·for its administration and they would
be Government servants and' the Secretariat would be department
of the Government of India .. In July, 1929,. ICAR was registered
as a Society with its office_ in the Secretariat as an attached office
of the Secretariat. By the Resolu\ion dated August 4, 1930, Govern-
F
ment of. India directed that for · reasons of administrative con-
venience "the Governbr-General in Council has now,. decided that
the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research Department, as the
Secretariat of the. Councir will henceforth be designated, should be.
a regular departm_ent of the Government of India Secretariat under G
the Hon'ble Member incharge of the DCiJartment of Education,
Health and Lands" .. A note was submitted .on December 29, '!937
to the then Viceroy conc.erning the status and position of the !CAR
as a Department of the Government ·in which it was recommended
that .JCAR should 1:wt only be maintained as a distinct entity inde- H
p_endent pf the Government of India and with a view to· achkving
SUPRIJME COURT REPORTS . · [l 984] 2 s.c.R

A this positici~. the office of the ICAR should not i~ future be a Depart-
ment of the Government of Jn4ia but should 'be an attad1ed oijice.
· Thi.s prqpo,sa\ was approved by the Viceroy on January 14, 1938
.simultaneously .expressing this anxiety io sustain the prestige cf lCAR.
·Ti,e .next step .;s one taken.by the Resolulio~ dated January 5, ·1939 •
by which the Government of India modified the status oft.he !CAR
B from the Department of the Secretaria·t lo one of an attached office
of the Government. of I;1dia; A letter was addressed to· the. High
Commissioner for· India in London on January l 4, l939 intii\iating
to nim that the Secretariat of the !CAR will. cease to be a Departmer:l
o(the Government of·India'and will be an attached office under the
Departme~t of Educatioi1, He~lth and.La.nds with effect from J~nuary
c JS, 1939. ·Till then recruitment.to various posts in !CAR was-made
thr~ngh Federal Public Service Commission and this was to be con-
-tinued even after the change in the stati1s of ICARas an attached
office as evidei1c~d by the Jetter dated August 24, J938 by the Joint
-
Secretary.to Government of India to tl;e Federal Public Service Com-
mission. A- bilL was introduced in .the Central Legislature styled
D as the "Agritultura\ Produce Cess Bill, J 949''. The statement of
object ·and reasons ~ccoinpanyi11$ the lii11 re_cited that the Central
Government have provided grants to the tune of Rs. 84 lakhs for tl1e
cxponditure·or l\le Council and took notice. orthe fac.t that the Coui1cil
has practi~ally no source of-income other \ban the contri~ution· from
the C.entral Revenue which may be unstable. depending upon lhe
E of
. state of finances the Central Government: ·It was further .observed
that in order. to place Council on a more secured financial positicn,
it has been decided to levy a cess at the_ rate of 1/2% on ihe valuc·of

F
·certain
. .....
agricultural
.. coi:nrnodities and the p;·oceeds
·..
'
of
. the·proposed

The bill w.as moved.- In the debate· upon the bill, a statement was
. .
cess are estimated to amount in a normal year to about Rs, 14 lakhs.

Iilade on behalf of the Government of lndfa that the .Central Legisla-
. lure will retain its full .right of interpellation and of moving resolutions
-
and will still vote on the grant of the.'petmaneni staff, and some of
the activities of the CounciL . kother words, an assurance was given
·that .the Central Legislative Assembly \Vil! have positive coi1frol
over the affairs'.of the Council to the some extent and degree when
G it was a Department br an attached office of the. Government of India.
On the advent of!ndepende~ce .. The Imperial Com:icil of Agricultura
1
Research wane:,designated as Indian .Council of Agri.cultutal Research.
'With· effect from April i, ·1966, administrative contr~I over IARI and
.. IVRI and other institutes was transferred. to ICAR simultaneously·
H ·placing the· Government staff of the institute~, at the disposal of JCAR/
as ·on foreign se~vice. ·This is eviden~d by a c~mmunkation dated
P. K .. IYER v. UNION(Desa0J.) 215

--< April 19, :J966 _addressed by the Ministry of Agriculttiral, ·Food, . A
Community, · Development and Cooperation to' the Directors of
Central Research. Institutes. An option was· given to \he members
•
of the- staff ~f. the Institutes, 'administrative control of which was
transferred to ICAR and the date for exercising tlje.optlon was exten-
• ded by the communication d.ated November 9., 1966. In .the mean-
time, the Government of Indfa enforced the new rules framed by B
the ICAR effective from January 10, 1966 keeping rule 18 in abeyance .
.,_ · With the change in the status of the ICAR, Department of Agricul-
. tural Research and Education ('DARE' .for short) was set up in the·
Ministry of Agriculture and \t came into existence on December )5, ·

-
-- _, 1973. Th.is Department was -set up with a view to providing necessary
Government linkage with ICAR. Tue major fm\ction of the Depart-
ment was to look after all aspects of agricultural research and educe
tion involving coordination between Central_ and State agencies; to
attend io all matters relating to the ICAR; and to attend to all matters
concerning the development of new• technology in. agriculture~ animal
husbandry and fisheries, .including such functions a> plant and animal -
. introduction and exploration, and soil and land use survey and plan- D
ning. By this very Resolution, ·the Director General of ICAR was _
concurrently designated' as Secretary to Government of lndir, in the
DARE. The posi!i011 of !CAR was clarified t.o the effect that in·
.:'. the reorganised. set-up, the ICAR will have the autonomy ·essential
for the ·effective functioning of· a scientific organisation and deal
'with sister Departmenis the Central . Government,with State E
.. Governments and also with international agricultural research centres
t -tlir6ugh the DARE. Rule, 18 .of the. ICAR ·mies which was kept-
in. abeyance on January I 0, 1966 was bro right into operation. in its
entirety effective from April l, !974 as per communication <!ated '
March 30, 1974 by the Ministry of Agriculture to the Secretary, ICAR
r . ·The consequence of Rule 18 hecoming operative· was that the Sec- · F
of
retariat ICAR ceased to be.:an attached office of the Ministry of
Food and Agriculture and the Society shall · fnnctiOn as 'wholly
financed and controlled by the ·society'. This last sentence · hardly'
0

•makes any. sense: Till Rule 18 was .kept .in .abeyance, recruitment
to· rcAR was done through the Union Public Service Commission
'as evidenced by the le.tter date,d August 24, 1938 of the Government " G. ,
of India to the Secretary, Federal Public Service-Commission; Simla,
~ Rule 18 as stated earlier became operative from April I, 1974. Rule
' 18 pro~ides that 'the Society· shall establish and _maintain. its own
.office, Research- •Institutes and Laboratories. The appointment
to_ the various posts under the Society's e.stablishment was to be made ·H
in accordance with the Recruitment Rules framed for the purpose
•.
•·

216 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1984] 2 s.c . R.

A by the govcrnmg body with the approval of the Government of
India",

Apart from the criteria devised by the Judicial diet the very •

8
. birth and its cofltlnued existence over half a century ~nd its present ·
position would leave no one in doubt that ICAR is alsmcst an inse-.
_parable adjunct of. tlie Government of India having an outward form
of being a Society, .it could be styled_ as a Society .set up by the ,State
..
·and therefore, would be an instrumentality of the siate. ·

lCAR start¢d as a Department of the Government of India
\----~
c
having an office in-the.Secretariat even though it was a Scciety regie-
tered under the Societies Registration Act. It was wholly financed
by the Government ·of Iildia. Its budget was voted upon as prt
· of the expenses ·incurred in the. Ministry of Agricuitm:e. Even v.hrn
I

-
its §talus underwent a change, it wr.s declared.as ai1 attached cfticc
· of the Gover.nment of India. The control of the Government cf India
permeates through. all its activities and it is th~ bcdy to wliich tLc
D Government .of India transferred Research· Institutes set up by it. .
In order to make
. it .financ;ially viable, a cess was ·levied .meaning thereby
' ~ .
that tile taxation power of the Stale was invoked, and the proceeds
of the tax were to be. handed over to ICAR for its use. At no stage,
the. control of the Government of lndia ever flinched and since its
inception it was setup to carry out the recommendations of the Royal
E Commission on Agricnliure. In our opinion, this by itself is suffi-
cient to make it an instrumentality of the siate.
'.
·[twas however urged that The Council of Scientific and lr.dustrial
Research (CSIR' for short).a society register<d under the Sccietks.
Registration Act and having an ident;cal set up as well as ccnstituti.cn:
F was held not t 0 be an instrumentality of the State er 'other authority'
under Art. 12. In Sabhajii Tewary's case, this Court held that the.
CSiil did not .have a statutory character like the Oil and Natural
Gas Commission, or the Life Iilsuranc<! Corporation or Industrial
Fi~ance Corporation, and it was ·a society .incorpor~ted in accordance
with the provisions of the Societies Registration Act. The fact that
G the .Prime Minister is the presidei1t or that the Government appoints
nominees to the Governing Body or that the Government may ter- ·
· minate the inembership will not according to this Court establish
anything more than the fact that the Government takes special care
that the promotion, guidance and co-operation of scientific and.
industrial research, the institution and financing of specific researches,'
establishment of development' a1\d assistance. to special instittions
',•.

P. _K. !YER v. UNION (Desai, J.) 217 •

for scientific study of problems affecting particular industry in a A
trade,· the utilh;ation of tbe result of the researches conducted under
the auspices of the Council towards the development of industries
• in the country are carried out in a responsible manner, and these
aspe9(s are not sufficient to reach the eondusion that the Society was
ari agency or ;nstrumentality of the Government. This Court also
referred to. some decisions which have held that the companies incor- B
porated under the Companies Act and the employees _of these com-
panies do not enjoy the protection available to Goverrinient servants
as contemplated in Art. 311. This ·Court accordingly concluded
that CSIR is not an instrumentality of the Government comprehended

- in the expression 'other ·authority' within the meaning of Art. 12 of
the Constitution, and the writ jurisdiction cannot be invoked against
it. Much water has flown down the 1amuna since the dicta.in Sabhajit
Tewary's case and conceding that it ·is not specifically. overruled in .
later decision; its ratio is considerably watered down so as to be a
decision confined to its own facts. The case is wholly distinguishable
on the facts apart from the later indicia formul~d by the Court for
ascertaining whether_ a body is 'other authority' withihn the meaning D
of Art. 12. A-mere c01riparison of the history of ICAR as extensively
set out herein before and the setting-up of CSIR would clearly show
that ICAR came into existence as a department ()f the Government,
· continued to be an .attached office of the Government even though
). it was registered as a society and wholly financed by the Government
and the taxing power of the State was invoked to make it financially. · E
viable. and to-, which independent research -institutes set up by the
Government were transferred. None of these features was present
in the case of CSIR and therefore, the deci_sion in Sabhajit Tewary's
.
case.would .render no assistance and would be clearly distinguishable.
.

r The ratio, if any, of the decision in Sabhajit Tewary's case was : ' F
examined by a Constituti~n Bench of this Court in Ajay Basia's case
and.it was held that that 'decisio'n is not an authority for the proposition
that a society registered under the Societies Registratio.n Act, 1860
can never be regarded as an authority withih the meaning of Art. 12.
The Court further held that having. regard to the various features
enumerated in the judgment in Sabhajit Tewary's case, the conclusion G
was reached that the .CSIR was not an agency of the Government,
but the Court did not rest its conclusion on the sole ground that CSIR
was a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860;
and on the contrary proceeded to consider various other features of.
the Council for ariving at the conclusion· that it was not an ageny H-
of the Government and therefore, it was ·not an authority for the
. . .
. • 218 SUPREME COtlRT REPORTS [1984] 2 s.c.R. ·

A ·· proposition that a society registered under the. Societies Regisfration
Act for that reason-alone would not be cowprehended in· the expressiOn
'other authority'. ·Jn Ajay Hasia's _case, this Court after taking note
of the decisions in Ram_ana Dayaram Shetiy v. The International Airport
.
of India.& ·ars.'ll and U.P. Warehousing Corporatio~ v. VijayNarain,l'l
·and .after extracting _various . indicia for determini~g whether
B, the particular body was an agency or fost;umentality of the Siate within .
the meaning ·of Art.. 12, prbceeded .to examine 1vhether the society
which had establisheil Regional Engineering College, Srinagar a11d which ·
was registered' under the_ Jammu & Kashmir Registration of Societies .·
Act,· 189!1 was an .instrumentality or agency· of the State and would
' be comprehended in the expression 'other authority' in Art. 12 ..fo
C · .. t)lis .connection the Court observed as under : .
•
' ' . ·- . . . .
"It is in the light of this discussion that we must now
proceed to examine whether the ·society in the present case·
is an "authorit,y" falling within the. ddntion of "state" in
. Article 12. Is it an instrumentality or -~gency of the Govern-
D ment ? The answer must. o~viously be in _the affirniative .
if we have regard to the Memorandum· of Association and
the .Rules of the_ .Society. · The composition of the Society
is dominated.by the representatives appointed by the_ Central·
Government and the Governments of Jammu & ·Kashmii; .
Punjab, Rajastlian and Uttar Pradesh with the approval ·· ·
E of the' Central Government. The monies. required for
running the college are provided entirely ·by ,the Central
. Government; and the Government of Jammu & Kashmir
· and even if any other monies are to _be received by · the
. Society, it C\(n be done only with the approval of-the State
arid the Central Governments. The Rules to be made by
F· ·the Society are also required to have the prior approval
· . of the St.ate and the·Cen_tral Governnients ·a_nd'the accounts
of the. Society have also to be submitted to both the Govern-
ments ,for fueir: scrutiny and satisfaction. The . Society is
also t-0 comply with. all such .dfrections ·as ·may be issued
by the State·_ Government with the approval of the Central
G Government in respect oLany matters dealt with in_ the report
of the Reviewing .Committee. . The _control of the State
and the Central Gover~ments is indeed so deep and. pervasive ·
that no immovable .property of the_ Sodety can be disposed .
•
H .. . (I) (19791 l S.C.R. 1014 at 1042.
(2) [1980] 3 s.c.c.. 459: .
:
P. K. IYER v. UNION (Desai, J.) 219

of in any manner witl1out ilw approval of both.the G6verri- .· A
ments. The State and 'the Central.· G.overnmenis have
even the power to ai>point any other_ person or persons
., . to be ·members of the Soeiety and any member of-the Society
other than a .member representing the State or the Cenlr_al
Government can be removed from the membership of the
Society by the State Government with the approval of the B
Central' Government. The Board of Governors, which is in
·charge ·of general superintendence, direction and conliol of
the affairs of Society and of its income and property is a!So
_largely controlled by ·nominees of the State and the Central

-
Governments. It will thus be. seen tha.t the State Govern-
ment and by reason of the provision· fodipproval, the Central
Government. also, have full coµtrol of tlie working .of the
c
Society. and it would not be incorrect to . say tba't the
Society is mereJy a projection of the Slate and the. Central
Governments and. to use. the wotds of Ray, CJ. in Sukhdev
Singh's case (supra), the voice is· that of the Staie and the
· Central Governments wd ·the bands are also of the State D
and the Cental Governments. We m~st, therefore, hold
that t)l.e Society is an instrumentality or agency of the. State
artd the Central Govern·1nents ·ind it is an 'auihor'ity' .\vithin
.the meaning_ of Art. 12.'' . "
. - . 4 -

Applying _the criteria, there ·is little doubt that ICAR is .an •. E
instrumentality or the agency of the State. It· came into existence ..
as an integral departinent of the Government of India and later on·
·t- - became ari attached office of the 'Central ·Government. 'I.he com~
• pesition of the ICAR as evidenced by Rule 3 could .not. hllve beeri· ·
more governmental in character-than any department.of the. Govern'
merit. The Governing Body of the Society would consis.t of a Presi- F.
dent of the Society, who is none other than· the Cabinet Miriistei' ·
of the Government of India for the .time being incharge of Agricul,
ture; the Director-General, a distinguished scientist to be appointed
by Government of India would be the Vic~-President and the· Principal
, . ·Executive ··officer cif the Society. He is concurrently appointed as
Secretary to Gove.fnmenfof India. Other members of the Governfog G
Body are eminent scientists. not exceeding nine in number to be .
appointed by the President that' is the Minister; not more than five .
.·persons for their idterest in agriculture to be appointed by the President
that is the Minister, three. membets of · Parli~ment and Aditiondal/
Joint ·secretary to the the Government of India in the Departinent of H
·Agriculture to be nominated by that Department; one person, appointed
..
220 S\)PREME COURT REPORTS [1984] 2 S.C.R.
•
A by .the Government of India to represent the Central. . Minisl.1y/
.Department. concerned with the subject 9J Scientific R°'earch ond
the Financial Adviser of .the Society:· There is none outside the.
Government in the Governing Body. Rule 91 deals with.the finances •.
and.funds of the Society and the·sources of income are the ·cess kvi~d
by the Government under the Agricultural Produce Cess Act and
B the recurring and. non-recurring grants from the Government of
India .. The Rules of the Society were initially framed by the Gov-
ernment of India and Rule 98 makes it abundantly clear that the.)'
can neither be. altered nor amended except with the sanction of th~
• Gov~rnment of India. Rule 100 shows that the Rules at the relevant
time in force become operative after they were approved by the
c Government of India,. and ·Came into force· from the date to .be .
specified by the Government of India. Rule 93 provides for audit
of the accounts of the Society by such person or person as may be
nominated by the Central Government. Rule 94 provides t)lat the
Annual Report of the proceedings of the Society and of all work r
midertakeri during the. year shall be prepared by ·the Governing Bcdv
D for the information of the Government· 0 f India and the membe.rs
of the Society,. ·and the report and ·the audited accoun.ts of the
Society along with the auditor's report· thereon shall be placed
. before the Society at the Annual General Meeting and also en. the
the .table ·of the Houses of Parria.ment ..· Rule 18 .provides that the
appointment to the various -posts under the Society shall lie .made
E in accordan~e with the Recriutment Rules. framed for the purpose.
by the Governing Body with tJ:ie prior. approval of the Government
of India but prior thereto it was by the Union Public Service Ccm-
--I
mission. The administrative and the financial ccntrcl of ih Gc\fln- • i
0
ment is all pervasive. The rules and bye-laws of the Society can l:e
framed amended or repea.led with the sanction of the Government.
F .of. India. The case before us is rnuch stronger than the one con-
sidered by this Court in the case of Ajay Hasia and therefore, the
conclusion is inescapable that the Society is an instrumentality er
agency. of the Central Government and therefore, it is 'other authority'
within the meaning of the expression in Art. · 12: As a necessary
corollary the writ jurisdiction can be invoked ·against it and therefcre
G the decision of Delhi' High Court must be reversed on this .p·oint.
· The preliminary objection i~ accordingly overruled; •
•
•
Having rejected the preliminary objection; we must now'proceed
to examine the contention raised in each petition and appeal on
merits.
H
Before we proceed to examine the contentions on merits,
p, K. IYER v, UNION (Desai, J.) 221

_ . ~nhappy though- it may appear to be, and howsoever one would like
.to avoid reference to it, it is inevitable that ,one mu~t take note of the
A
·deplorable state of'affairs in the administration orthe affairs of !CAR
and the uncongeniel atinosphere in which :the highly qualified agri:
cultural· scientists in this country have to work. ICAR w~ s "t up
• for undertaking Scientific Research in Agriculture, Animal Husbandry
and allied subjects on which the entire economy: of this country B
revolved· till the advent of industrial r.ivolution. it wa_s set up 'with·
a view to imparting speed and momentum to research in agriculture
and allied subjects. so that the countrv may move from the middle
_,_) ages. to the modern methods in agricultural technology. Unfortu,

- nately, since its inception, the .domestic atmosphere has not proved
congenial to the flowering of the' genius of the country's best talent
in agricultural research. This came 1o light when on Mav 5, ·l 972,
newipapers all over 'he country flashed the tragic news that a young
c
agricultural scientists, Dr. V.H. _Shah, who was working as Senior
Agronomist and Associate Project Coordinator in the IVRJ had • ...•
committed suicide by hanging· himself in his residence· _the previous
night. There was a commotion in the Parliam~nt and during· the D
debate in the House, Membe'rs of Parliament regretfully referred to
previous suicides commitied by· agricultural scientists, one such ·
. being of Dr. M.T. Joseph, Teaching Assistant,Divisian of Entomology, ·

-
IARI who had committed suicide on Januar!f 5, J960. These were
not stray incidents bui the outcome of persecution,· . torture .and
harrassment emanating fr0<11 t_he polluted environment in !CAR E
and its affiliates. The then Minister for F~od and Agriculture·stated
in the Parliament that the Gove~nment of India was not happy with
the procedure of selection of personnel in the !CAR and prcceeded
to inform the House that they have ·not been too happy with the .
present system of recruitment which necessitates a scientist applying
'>· for posts and being interviewed by selection committees thrcughcut F
his working career because the system inevitably provides frequent
occasions for disappointment leading to frustration. Two· decades
thereafter we are constrained to note that the things have not improved
, at all. TM !CAR and the Institutes seem to be so backward looking
in their approach to the members of the staff that as late as in 1983
considerable time of this Court was frankly wasted in disposing of G
the preliminary objection ·on behalf of the JCAR th.at It is not amen-
able to this Court's writ jurisdic;tion which would imply tba_t they
have skeletons to hide and slrun their exposure to the Court's examina-
tion of the internal affairs. To continue the narrative, a committee
was appointed under tlie Chairmanship of Shri P.B. Gajendragadkar, H
;eitred Chief. Justice of .India and. Vice-Chancellor, University of
222 .SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1984] 2 S.C.R .
A
Bombay and at the ·relevant time Chairman, Law ·commission with
wide· terms of reference inter alia to' enuqire into 'the recruitment
: policies of ICAR 'and to review the recruitment' and personnel policies
pf ICAR, Institutes and Centres working under it and to suggest
measures. for their improvement. This Committee submitted its.
. Report and we :take note Of oniy one of its findings which reads as · I
:-under:

· "AlLthe.sc complaints have been echoed .by several scientists
wh_o met the Comniittee. In the opini~n of the Committe,
__
, ...._

-
· rizese complaints have some substance; The Panel ·of Advisers .

also hold the . same qpinion. The Committee is of the view
c . that most of these complaints a.re due to improper working
·conditions in the Divisions .. A scientist b~cngs to a Divisicn .

.. . •
•
.
· '
, where he carries out his ·work. The atn1osphere in. the·
Divisi_on and the fnstitu'te should be conducive to research
actiVity. ,-~.u >
(cmpl)asis supplied)_.
D
. At another stage, the Committee h~s observed that: 'in the
pi-,esent circumstances where a crisis cif character and confidence
.see~s tohave overtaken the entire administra,t1on of the ICAR, we
· think it i;; absolutely necessary that recruitment of personnei_:jn all
the Institutes with the !CAR should revert to the UP.SC.' Tiie
·'E Committee made it clear, it· made th~ r~commendation, beta use it .
was-satisfied that there is obvious dis-satisfacfrn with the recruitments_
made from ·J966 onwards.and the Report when browsed through
would leave an inefaceable impression on the reader thatthe Committee
was-- dissatisfied with internal atmosphere in !CAR and that there
was an amount .of dis-satisfaction about the recruitment .policy and
-
that it was such a perceived reality that it wculd be. idle to ignore the
same.· Even the Director-General. who is ·concurrently also the
Secret~;y t~ the DARE in charge ~f ICAR conceded before tlie
· Committe_e that it would b.e better if, for some time, the recruitn:rnt
el)
. in trusted to so~e- outsfde agency. 1') In'Chapter XI of ihe Report, _
-tile Committee noted that the complaintr, made against the ·Head
of -the Division· about. no~ giving adequate facilities for- work and
the lack ofacademic atmosphere ·and an absence of. domestic apprcach
• permitting free discussion on _researdi projects and results obtained.
we're genuine and· they required to
.
. .
be .remedied..
. . There. 'is further
.
.

.(1) Re~ort of the !CAR Enquiiy Conunittee, 1973; Chapter VII page 54. ,
0

·H
- (2) Report of.the !CAR Enquiry Cornmitee, 1973, Chapter II page 12.
p, K. IYER V: UNION (Desai, J.) 223
. . . . .

the recommendation with .regard to vertical structure of. Scientists
and the scales of pay attached -to each cadre. H is unhappy to note
thai things have hardly imp~oved siJJce the Report of the Commitiee
because in. the first writ petitiori, petitioners were again to be exposed
to chazards of a fresh .selectioll and the complaint of Dr. Y.P. Gupta
• is essentially tl)e same as· noticed and commented upon by ihe Com-
. mittee. · · · · :B
Re : W.P. Nd. 587175: Jn this writ peti(ion, 1he suqstantial
grievance is that even though the three petitioners' were 'respectively
holding the post of Professor in Animal Patliology~Animal Genetic.s
) a~ Veterinary Parasitology from 1963, 1970 and 1970 respoctively, •
,7\· wil'en the pay-scale for the post of ~rofessor on the recomi:nendation C
of the· University Grants Commission. nnderwent an upward revisicn
to. Rs .. 1100-1600, .the ICAR instead of straightway granting the .,. ·
· scaleto the petitioners, the holder.s oftlie posts· of. Professor, prccceded .• ·
, ·. to.issue an advertisement on May 2i, 1974 inviting fresh applications
for the .Post of Professor in the three ·subjects ·in. which the petitioners
were already holding the post of Professor and simultaneously appoint- .. D
ed some others ·in different subjects and disciplines as }'rofesscrs
and ga vc them the revised stale while the petitioners w~re .left to
languish in the old scale. According to the petitioners, apart from
gross discriniinatioll in. the matter of equal pay for equal work; the
dire(:! consequence of this i,infair ana arbitrary action of the . third
·rospondent was the adverse affectation ill the seniority in the cadre of· E
Profeswrs because those who were· appointed in the· revised scale
sec.red a. march: over the petitionei·s who .continued to langufab ·in
the prNevised· scales. · Petitioners contend ·that· the. situation is
recreated which was adversely commented upon 'by the Minister ·
· in the, Parliament that the recruitment .policy adopted by ICAR
nec;essitates a. scientist to apply for posts and being inter:vie,Wed· by F.
selecti.on committee with attendant hazard and consequent frustra-
tion. Petitioners tl1erefore pray firstly fo1 cencelling. tt,e adv~~•"·
. ment .issued for the purpose of inviting applications for the posts
. already held by theni' a.nd secondly' forgrant1n·g thmi .e·quali!y of.
treatment in .the matter of pay-scales with. other. Professors with
whom they stand on terms of equality and ·are better equipped because G.
of longer experience. Petitfonets ;ay that in 1970-71 si.x posts o.f
-i... Professor w~re created in the.revised ocale cf Rs. 11(0-lf.CO at IVRI.
in .the· discipHne Of Poultry Science, Poultry .Pathokgy, Vet<rireiy
. Public Health. (Calcutta Centre of IVRI), Biochemistry, Epid<miolc gy
and Veterinarv Public Health (IV.RI Centre) .. The nviscd oca!e H ·
-\yas .sanctioned for thesf' newly created P<?sts· pUrs112n1 to flie recrin~ ·
224 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1984} 2 S.C.R.

A .niendation of the University Grants Commission. ·Let ·it be made
distinctly clear that the revised scales were .,meant for the post of
Professor in IVRI not for the post in any particular discipline. Peti-
tioners were holding posts o.f Professor in lVRI, and therefore the
p'otitioners contend that the posts of Professor held by them would
be goyerned by the revised scale eff<;etive from the date on which new •
B posts .were created and filled in, in the revised scale. Respondents'
rosponse to this contention is that !CAR informed the Director of
IVRias per its le(te.r·dated Ja~uary · 20 . 1971 that three posts of
Professor in the scale of Rs. 1100-1600 in Veterinary Bacteriolc·gy,
Anim1l Nutri~n and Animal Genetics have be.en sanctioned suject
• to tho condition that°the ·existing _posts of Pro_fessor cbviousi in . ·
c the same disciplines in ihe sc,.Je of R's. 700-1250 stand abolished.
Shorn of embellishmcrit, it would mean that the posts in the afore-
• m,ntioned three subjects shall hcncefort~ carry the revised w1:e cf
• Rs. llOOcI600.· ·The respondents assert that the revised scale was not
b' automatically granted to the existing holders cf the p·osts but 1J·.ey .•
wo1tld bo considered with other applicants for P.ppoiutment. in the
D higher scales, if they are otherwise suitable. ll was also '":cl th.t
in th:e letter of appointment as Professor each of the petitioner was
informod that as the post of Profes~or is· being upgraded, each of
them will have to face selection test. · Letter of appointment dated
March 25, 1970 in respect ·of petitioner .No. 2 though relied upon
was not on the record but when produced in the course of hearing
E · with an affidavit; it belie1 the· statement. There is nothing in the
. letter of appointment of each of the petitioners that wh.en the revised

-
scale for the post. of Professor will be introduced,· the incumbent of
·the _post will have to face a fresh selection. It is not· clarified whether
the three posk of _Professor. in Veterinary Bacteriology, Animal
nutrition and Animal Qenetics in the pre-1evised scale were already
F filled in and whether the. holders of of the posts got the revised sca 1e .
· without any fuss of fresh selection .on the part of the respcndents·. i.
-h~ counter-affidavit on behalf of respondeng .Ncs. -1,2,3,4,5 and JJ ·
is conspicuously silent on this point: However,. it· is contended that
the ·"qualifieations for post of Professor while sanctioning .the 1oviscd
scale was altered in as. much as when the. post of Professor carried
G the scale of Rs. 700~1250, the essential qualification required wcs cnl~
a. p3st:graduate. degreo in the specific discipl'nc' whereas in t_he post
· cre.ated in the revised scale; a Dcctroate degree in· the subject along
with the· specialisation in the relevant discipl'ne 'was prescrihd ard
H
which fact can ·be gathered from the model qualifications pmcribed
for similar posts: in all the research institutes of!CAR. It was. further·
as.serted that sarlier the minimum experience required was about
,.

P. K, IYER v. UNION (Desai, J.) 225

5 years whereas it ·was re~iscd to' 7 years. Nothing ·\vould be 1nore A
misleading than this eye viash performance "wl1ich really hides the
true intendment namely, to ex.elude the present Incumbents of the
.posts of Profess.or and to expose them t9 a competition with same
rank outsiders who may as in· the. case of Dr. ·S.L. Shah score a march
in the na1ne.of 'scleCtion · \vhich ~cnerallv leaves a_ grey afea. Peti-
tioners Nos. 2 and 3 do. hold a D;ctorate.in. their respective.discipline .B
· \Vi_th.~Xperience-extending·111orc tl1an 7".)1ears in the ~isciplinc. _Petili~~
ner .No. I, who does !Jill hold a Doctorate has to his credit.M:R.C.V.S.
which bas been recognised by the Government of lncfo as possessmg .
post-giaduate qualifid1tion in Vetei·inary qiid· Ani.1nal SIOiences and
teaching posts including the post of Directof of lVRl. and continu"
to be' recogn·ised as guide/teacher for post-graduate degree courses. C·
The subterfuge was to expo.se the petitio1;ers· to 'a fresh selection test·
w.ith ·all its consequential m1certaini.ties and that Was the exact thiilg
found ·bv Dr. ·oajendragadkar Co.mmitt~e. That is .why it can be
l' said that like the true Bourbons '!CAR has learn\ noihing and. for-
gotten nothin.g/ The hard fact is that the petitioners were holding
·the. posts or' Professor when ti1c ·revised scale becarr.e effec!ive. 111 ,D
the letter d,1ted January 20, 197i sa11ctioning revised scale for the
post. q.f Professor, there is not even. a whisper that the existing incum-
bent· will tie denied. the benefit .. ·,,, fact, it is .well-known that the
U:niversit"y_ Grants ·con11nission regularly rccorr;n1cr:ds-- revised stales
for ~very p1an perio·d~for teaching-posts and the revision .takes ncte
of. i111dequn:te scales sa·nctioned till t.he date" of re.vision. The .onl); E
justifi~ation DITered by the respondents for denying the petiti,;11ers

-
. the benefit of the revised·scale is to be found in ·the counter-affidavit
r of Dr. M.S. Swaniinathan .• It is conteride.d that tlie newly created
. p )St in the cadre of Profrssor is not the same ·as the th~ri existing
p)st ai:id that th~re was 1narginal revisicin in the·· quali_fitations for·.'·
the. PJ.~ts· of Professor in the' revised -~calc· and that ·petitjonefs _\Vere F
. not discriminated because they• \Vere giVen aq .Opporfunity to contest
for the pnstsin ;he re~ised scale. Thc.ju;tifitation is tea fti1my to
.
merit any serious conSiderntion. . . _n1or.e. so ·in view of.the fact that it ..is
. . - .
diffi.:u 1t tJ ~-11v.i':lage a sitllation in- such _institutes, :undertakin:g- adv3nc~
J
ros~a·ch in. Agriculture and Ani1m\l Husbandry where persons holding G
Doctorate qualification and enjoying the status of thi: post .cf Pro-
fessor would be governed by two different scales even though the'
d,uties, resp:J'nsihilities. and func.tions in vario~s $istcr. disciplines
are idenli::ai.' Ii} such.,i situatio~··Art,. 39(d), tru~t assist us 'in reaching
a ·fai·r and_ just·. concll1s-ion. ~laborat.ing the ·underlying i.r.!endmenf H
of Ari. 39(d); · Chinnappa Rcddv, J.· in' Randhir Singh v:· Union of
226' SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1984] 2 S.C.l\;

A India & Or.i." 1 observed that construing Arts. 14 and 16 in the iighf
of the Preamble and Art. 39(d), the Court was of the view that the
principle 'equal pay for equal work' is deducible from those Articles
and may be properly applied to ,the ~ases of unequal scales of pay
based ·on no classification or irrational classificaticn though those
drawing the different scales of pay do identical work under the same
B employer. The case in hand is a . glaring example of discriminatory · '
"
.

treatment accorded to old experienced and highly qualified hands
with an evil eye and.· unequal hand and the liuarantce of equality
in all its pervasive character must enable this Court to. remove dis-
crimination and to restore fair play in action. No· attempt was made
to .sustain the scales of'pay for the. post of Professor en the doctrine
·c of classification because the classification of existing incumbents as .
being distinct and separate from newly recruited han.d with flilJlSY.
change in. essential qualification would be wholly irraticnal and
arbitrary. The case of the petitioners· for teing put in the 'revised
scale. of Rs,.) 100-1600 from the date on· which newly created posts
of Professors in sister disCiplines in lVRl and other i11stitutes were
created and filled in in revised scale i.s unanswerable mid must' .be
conceded.

When the matter was discussed threadbare Mr. Atdul Khc~er,
.learned counsel for the Union of India stated that all the petjtioners
would be put in the revised scales from the. time the post .of Professor
E iri upgraded scale was filled-in in sister disciplines. Mr: Khader •.
stated .that petitioners Nos. 2 and 3 are already .in the higher grade
. and any attempted fresh seletion to fill-in those posts has been can-

-
celled. He further stated that the first petitioner .bad to be uncfficially -,(
(
put in the same scale on accoµnt.of the failure of the first petitioner to
exercise his option to be in the employment of the !CAR and that
F as by now he has exercisecJ..,his option he will ·enjoy the same benefit.
Tlius Mr. Khader fairly conceded thafall the petitioners will be put·
. in the revised scale !rom the date fresh recuitment was made 'in sister
disciplines in IVRI in the revised -scale, and if the seniority was dis-
turbed on account of the earlier approa.ch, the same would be rectified.

G Ifthe petiiioners are entitled to the re~ised scale as hereinabcve
·. indicated, and should be put in the -same pursuant to the mandamus ·
'we propose to issue in this case, it is immaterial whether the advertise-
ment' which was issued is cancelled or not. If the respondents still
want to pursue the a.dvertisement, they. may do so without i.n any
(I) [1982] 1 s.c.c. 618.
P. K. IYER .. v. UNiON (Desai, J.)
. .
manner affecting the position of the petitioners and the petitioners
. A
nee.d not expose themselves to the vagaries of a fresh selection. It is
therefore, not necessary for us .to cancel the advertisement for the
reasons herein indicated .. This would dispose of W.P. No. s:S7 of
1975.

Re : R.P, No. 4 of 1977 in S.L.P. No. 2339/75.: B
Dr. Y.P .. Gupta filed Writ Petitibn No. 276 of 1972 in the High
Court of Delhi.. In this writ petition, he primarily raised two con-
. tentions : (i) tliat the selection of respondent No . 6 for the post of
s~nior Bio-chemist was illegal as he did not p0ssess essential qualifica-

.. tions, and (il) the removal ·of the petitioner from the m.embership
of the Post-graduate Faculty was unjust and invalid. · c
ft was alleged that in Dec·ember, 1970, ICAR advertised a post
of Senior Bio-chemist in IARI in the scale of Rs. 1100-1400. The
essential qualiiications were set out in the advertisement as under:

,,(i) . Doctorate in -Biochemistry or Organic ·Chemistry or D
agricultural Chemistry.
(ii) JO years research experience in the field of Nutrition
with particular reference. to quantity and quality of
.
'protein in food grajns as evidenced by publislied work ..
.
'(iii) Ability to plan, organise and guide research .involving E
biochemical techniques as. applied to protein chemistry
and radio-tracer studies."· ·

Aniongs.t others,' petitioners Dr. Y.P. Gupta, Dr. T.S. Raman
·and respondent No. 6 in the High Court Dr: S.L. Mehta applied
for the post. A Selection Committee was set up with Dr. J. Ganguly; F·
Professor. of Bioch.emistry as Chairman and Dr: P.K. Kymal a.nd
Dr. ,N.P. Datta as members. Intending candidates including petiti-
oners Dr. Y.P. Gupta, Dr. T.S. Raman and respondent No. 6
Dr. S.L. Mehta were interviewed by the Selection .Committee. The
, that none of the candidates interviewed
Selection Committee found
or con~idered in absentia fulfils all the essential qualificaticno. laid G
. down for the post and therefore, the Committee was unable to re-
commend any nanie at .that stage. The Committee further recom-
mended that the post may be readvertised and essential ·qualificatipn
No. 2 should be amplified by adding the clause 'JO years research
experience in the field of protein Chemistry.' The. Selection Committee fJ
further recommended that from amongst the candidates interviewed
A
. .228
;
SUPllilME COURT REPORTS
. . .
[1984] i S•.C.R ..

· and 'considered in absentia tlwse whose names were set out in the
report be calledfor.fresh interview whiCh may be held afier the post
..,_

').. . .
is advertised. afresh with expanded essential qualification, · This list
includes the· names of petitioners Dr. Y.r: Gupta and Dr. TS. Raman
as· also respondent-No. 6 Dr. S.L Mehta . A fresh Selection Corn-·
.· mittee \vas set up which included respondent No. 5 Dr: M.S. Naik
B agafost whom numerous allegations of maia fides have bee11 ~ade,
The i1ew Selection Comtnittee interviewed Dr.. Y.P. Gupta along with
others .. Ultimately, the ·second Selection Committee recommended
pr. S:L. Mehta for th.e post .which led to the' filing.·of the petition
inter a/ia 911 the gr~und that Dr. S.L. Mehta did not satisfy the mini- ·"'·
mum es.sential qualification. .
c
Another griev.ance in· the petitio'n ;s that petitioner Dr. y,p,
Gupta was a member of the facuJty',in the· post-graduate school at
IART from 1965 to May 1971 and he was illegally and arbitrar;lv
·removed.from the membersh;p of the Faculty. Jn the communication
dated ·Juno 15, 1971 by the Assistant Registrar to Dr. M.S. Naik,
D Head 6f the Biochemistry Department, Ann. P-1 to the petition hi the
. High O)urt, it is stated that the letter of Dr. Y.P. Gupta dated May
30, 1970 \vas considered by the Academic Council which una.nimously
~esolved ,that Dr. Gupta'. was not .interested in continuing as a member
of the Faculty and hence the Council" reg1et to utilise. Pis service
as :i member of the Faculty to. the post:graduate school any more.''
E · Thus actording to the "petitioner, he was removed from the member-
ship of the Faculty wl1ilc accordi,ng lo the respondents by the letter

-
dated May 30. 1970 Dr. Gupta ·submitted his resignation which was
accepted by the .Academic Council with regret: -1 ·. •
The High Court reje~ted the petition primarily on the ground
F ihat no writ petition lies against TARI, a ground no more available
to the petitioner. On the merits, the High Court held that Dr. YP. ."'"!.
. Gupta has failed to subs(antiatc the allegations of·mala fides'.made
against· respondent .No. 4-DL M.S: Swaminathan and respondent·
No. 5 Dr.· M.S. Naik. The High Court further held !.hat the Selection
. Committee bad the power to relax the essential qtialificaticns and i
G. the vOl/y fact th.at respondent No. 6 Dr. S.L' Mehta was appointed
on the recommendation of the Selection Committee it must have
been done· by necessary implication aft~r. relaxing· the essi.ntia! quali-
and
fication therefore, the appointment of respondent No. 6- Dr:
S.L. Mehta was valid.and imquestionab.Ie. · With respect to the second
H ~-
gdeyance, the High Court' held. that Dr. Y.-P. Gupta' ceased to be a
men1ber of the Faculty and that he was not removed from the member-
•
'
•
. .
.
P. K. IYER v. U'JION (Desai, J.) . . 229

ship and it was not necessary .to bear. him· because it was not.a case A
of removal but ofcessation' of membership and thetefore no· .relief
l '
can be granted to Dr. Gupta. · •

Before'· we proceed to· examine the contentions raised by Dr.
Gupta on· merits, we must dispose of .a prelimin~ry objection raised
on behalf of the respondents: It was submitted that not only the
'writ petition filed by Dr.· Gupta w&s dismissed by the High Court · B
on merits but S.L.P. 2339/75 against the decision of the-High court .
was rejected by this Coµrt on July,-21, 197() after recording the state-
ment of l\1r. Lokur, learned counsel who appeared. for !CAR as .also
the Institute that .the Academic Council .w9uld consider the questl~11
of taking back the petitioner as.a member ·qf the Faculty. Thereafter,
·Dr. Gupia filed R:P. No. 79/76. which was also. rejecte·d by this
c
court on Oct. 21/, .1976. At the 'relevant time as the successive. review
petitions were not· barred, Dr. Gupta filed R.P. No. 4/77. T)lis
review petition .was kept pending and was finally directed to. be heard
with the Writ Petition No .. 587/75, by the orde1' of this Co.urt' in
C.M.P. No. 17350/79 dated Decemb.er 19, 1979.. Preliminar} objec-
D
tion .is that no case is 'made out b} the petitioner for review .of th.c
decision of the Court rejecting petitio~ for special leave ·jjjcd by the
petitioner. . The writ petition filed by Dr. Gupta ·in the High Court
on a reference made by a Division Bench was heard by .a Bcnth of
five Judges and the larger Bench .focussed its attenl'OJl on the maiii
question whether the wiit jurisdiction can be· invoked against ICAR
and its· affiliates .and i{was held ·that the .wtit. ·jurisdiction cannot ·be
invoked. Once the High Court held that the writ juris<)iction. cannot
be Invoked, it could 110t proceed to exami11e the contentions raised
•
by Dr. Gupta ·on merits. The. moment th.e High Court held that
it had no jurisdictiou to e.ntettain the writ petition,. it became functus ·
)· 'officio and .therefore, its decision oil the .merits of the co.ntention is
of no' consequence and at: ~ny rate could not conclude the matter·
against the petitioner.·. Now that it is held that the writ. petition
is maintainable on the finding tha.t lCAR. and ·its affiliates are other ..
·.l
authority within the m~aning of the 'expression in Art. 12 of the.
Constitution, justice· deman"ds that the. Court must examine the con-
tentions of Ik Gupta on ·merits. We. accordingly, overrule . the G.
· preli1ninary objection ·raised on behalf of responde.nts and· p10cced
to examiue the cont.erttions on merits by allowing the review petition
No. 4of1977 and grant special.leave to appeal to' the petitioner .
.Both the contentions may be separately examined.
• H
Th~ first contentio.n· is that respondent No .. 6 Dr. s.t. Mehta

•
•

•
.230 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1984] 2 s.c.R.

A who was selected by the Selection Co~mittee for the post .of Senior
Bio-chemist after the bizzare exercise undertaken to find a suita bk
person to fill in the .post o'n the earlier occasion, did not fulfil Gue of
the essentiai" qualifications for the post:· 1t was urged. that in order
t.o help respondent No·. 6 to get selected .essential qualification was
doctored to suit his requirements and respondent No. _5 was nominated
B on the second Selection Committee. When the post was first arlver;
. tised, one of the essential qualifications was '10 ~ears ·research
experience i_n the field of Nutrition with particular reforeuce to quantity .....
and quality of protein in food grains ~s evidenced by pllblished work.'

-
It is nofin dispute tliat Dr. Gupta, the present pet't'cner, did satisfy
th'.s and other.essential qualificat;ons. The first _Selection CcmmittEe
c examined the suitability of seven . candidat~s . including petitioner
Dr.. Gupta; Dr. T .. S Raman, petitioner in cognate pe\ition and res-
pondent No. 6 Dr. S.L. Mehta. The Committee specifically recorded
its finding that none of tl1c candidates. interviewed or considered in
absentia including respondent No. 6,. selected at· a later stage, fulfils
all the essential qualifications laid down for the post. The Committee
D recommended that.the post be readvertised after amplifying the essen_tial
qtialificaticin in the matter of experience namely '10 years research
)OXperience in the field of Protein Chemistry'. The post was the post
· of Senior Biochemist. lniiially experience requlred was in the field-
of Nutrition with particular refere)lce to quantity and quality of
· protein ·in food grains as evidenced by published work wl1ilc . the
E amplified essential qualification was research experience in tlic field
of protein Chemistry. It is difficult lo eface the impression that
.. ·'. the amplificatio11 was done keeping in view· the. qualification which
Dr . .S.L. Mehta had and even- t))en the question did arise whether.
he satisfied the original or the amplified essential qualification. The.
Committee recommended that pursuant to fresh adve1tisement, ii
F ~ould' ~ot be necessary for the petitioners Dr." Gupta, Dr. T.S. Raman
and respondent"No. 6 Dr. S.L. Mehta to submit afresh application
a·nd they should be interviewed again with other candidates available
on readvertisement of post. The Selection Committee was recons-
tituted by nominating respondent No. 5, M.S. Naik, Head, Division'·
of Bio~cbemistry, IARL All members or' the first Selection Committee
G were available. ]'lo explanation is offered what necessitated expanding
the Committee by nominating Respondent No. 5 on the Selection
Committee. And let it be recalled that the relations between petitioner
Dr. Gllpta and respondent No. 5 were by that time considerably
strained. It )s. therefore difficult to escape the conclusion that the
. H purported .amplification of. essential qualification appears to be a .
device to exclude .Dr. Gupta who fulfilled the first prescribc,d essential·
•
• J'. K. IYER v, UNION (Desai, J.) 231

qualificat on and oblige respondent No. 6 to fit into altered qualifica- A
tion.

Two errnrs are pointed out in connection with the proceedings
of the second Selection Committee in which Dr. M.S. Naik partici-
pated, namely, that the proceedings were vitiated on account of the
bias -of Dr. M.S. Naik and that the Committee failed to interview B.
·Dr. T.S. Ra marl and his case we~t by default not on liccount of his·
fault but on account of inefficien.cy and inaction on the part of the
administration responsible for intimating to Dr. Raman· the date
of interview.

· At the ·outset we must notice one development whiCh renders c
a detailed examination of the contentions · raised by Dr. Gupta
unnecessary. though we cannot refrain from expressing our
y distress· about the recruitment .method adopted by the ICAR and
its afliliat~s. This exercise, we are undertaking to satisfy ourselves.
whether after the unravelling of despicable state of affairs in the
internal administration of
ICAR and its affiliate~ by Gajendragadkar D
Co1nn1i~tee, has any i1npr.ove111ent becon1c noticeable ?

Dr. Gupta challenged the selection and. appointment of res-
pondent No. 6 as Senior Bio-chemist. The post of Senior Bio-chemist"
has since been abolished. Therefore, _setting aside _the selection· of
respondent No: 6 for the post of Senior Bio-che~ist is .only of E
academic interest. However one aspect which we .cannot overlcok
is that by this process of selection seriously questioned in this petitiop,
a
Dr. S.L. Me\lta has scored march over petitioner Dr. Gupta and his
co-petitioner Dr. T.S. Raman in the matter of higher scale of pay:

The firsi question to which we must, t\lerefore address ourselves F
is whether there is any substance
. in the contention of Dr. .
Gupta.
. that even applying the amplified essential qualification, r<spondent ·
No. 6 Dr. S.L. Mehta was not qualified for being selected for the
post ? The finding recorded by the High Court in this connection
is eloqµent to establish that Dr. S. L. Mehta did not fulfil either the
original or the amplified .essential qualification·, of pertaining G
·to ·experience. Says .the High Court that the research experience·
.respondent No. 6 Dr .. S.L. ~hta started from October .1962 when
he was preparing research thesis for M.Sc. The selection ·took
place in February !972 with the result that the research experience ·
of Dr. Mehta fell short of"IO years. This finding was not only not H
controverted but is unassailable. And we do not subscribe to the
232 .. SUPREME COURT REPORTS ' • [J 984] 2 ~:C.R •

.A view .that the period spent in. preparing· thesis for M.Sc . .:..Cmark. not
. Ph.D . counts towards required. expei:ience. 1t'. is well-settled th~t
experience to be of value ·and utility must be ~cquited after the educa-
tional qualification ,.i.s ·obtai11ed and· not while acquirinR the. ·post' T

:graduate qualification:· ln 'the case.of Ph.D .. Deoree awarded on
researc)l ~he situation may be different, · But' preparing thesis after
B ·graduation for acquiring post,graduate · CJ.egree would not count "·
towards ·prescribed experience qqallfication. Respondent· ]'lo. 6
qualified for M.S.c: in .1964 and Ph.D. toward the end of 1966 in
.soil science and Agricultura'l. L:hernistry under the guidance of Dr.
,. N.B. Das a11d joined se1vice al JARl in July, l 969. These ,facts are

c
. uncontroverted and therefore,. the High 'Court ov,)ooked .\he fact
that respondent No. 6 Dr. s·.L. Mehta had research experience exten-
'----
ding only over hardly· a. period of 5 years. · Further the High Court
failed' to notice that respond.en\ No. 6 appeared ·~at to carry on research
in the line of Nuirition' or protein. Chemiury and· therdore he. did
not fulfil th.e qualificatiol) at all and in our opinion, he even could
·not have been. called for interview by the Selection Committee. Not
D onl.1 that. in .para' 10 of the writ petition i~ the H'igh Cou;t, it was
speeificc\liy asserted that respondent 'N,;.' 6. Dr. Mehta did not ·satisfy ·
the original or amplified essential qualification pertaining to expnknce.
. because the post was under the project 011 the protein q~ality·of ~illets, ..
sorglrnm, wheat and either cereals concerned with studies on the nutri-
tional quality of· food :grains. whereas Dr. Mehta has never. done
any work nor published any literature in. the Jine of nutrition nor was
he ever basically trained in .this line. lilthe .. counter-affidavit fried
on behalf of rnspondent Nos. ),and 4 that.is Director General atid
Secretary to the Government oflndia, !CAR and Director General ·
of !CAR, this averment was neither.· questione<l nor ccmli'overted
nor .denied. Further the High Court upheld the slection and appoint~·
F. ment of respondent: No: 6 Dr. Mehta hot.ding' that a5' the Selection
Committee had power-to' relax· the essential qualification, the appoint-
meht of br. Mehta was made after relaxing the essential qiialification.
.
·'""'

We find it difficult to appreciate that the. High Court shmiid uphold
· an appoh1tment of a· person, to suit whose r.equirement, the ess.ential
qualification was · amplified. by providing an irrelevant additional
G amplification and yet who failed to qualify for tlie same by resorting· to
the power of relaxation. And we are not satisfied that the second
. Selection .Committee .had· the pawer to relax' essential qualification
pertaining to experience . In .this <tn.nection, it is .ad.vantageous
· to refer to the. counter-affidavi.t of respondent No. 4, the ·Director-.
H : General. of !CAR, whe.rein he stated tha.t firsi essential qualification
pertaining to educational attainment· was relaxable. He is silent as
P. K. IYER '" UNION (Desai., J.) 233

to the second essential qualification· pertaining to experience·. The A
re.levant poriion may be extracted :

·"Doctorate in Bio-chemistry or Oganic Chemistry oi· ·
. Agdcultural Chemistry-relaxable to M.Sc. Degree or equiva-
lent post-graduate qualifications in the case of
capdidates .
with exception.ally distinguished record of produ~tive · ·B
research." ·

It is not suggested that· there was power. oT rel_axation with
regard to second essential qualification. However, neither respondent.
·No. 6 nor respondent Nos. 2 and· 4 ever asserted· that but for power
of relaxation claimed,. respondent No. 6 could ever be said to have
satisfied the essential. qualificaiion pertaining lo experience. 'In. this c
connection, we may'refer w a counter-affidavit on behalf of respondents
. Nos. 3 .and 5 to 7 which ·included respondent No." 6. the party con'
cerned. In the. counter-affidavit, ·there is an sphinx like silence with
' regard to the averm_e,;ts madein-para JO that respondent No. 6 Dr..
Mehta did not satisfy tlie essential q1ialification pertaining to experience.
. Sub si/entio _an ad1nissio1i can. be spelt on behalf of respondent No ... 6 D
t!~at he did not have requisite es~e11tial quali.ficatiu1~ a.s· to. experien1.:e ..
.Therefore, the conclusion is inescapable that respo.ndent' No. 6 Dr·.
Mehta did not satisfy the essential qualificaticn pertainirg to exVi~ience ·
even after the !CAR and. its affiliates and respondent No.' 4 amplified
. the essential qualifications. · And 'we could not trace the source of ·
po~er if any to relax essential ·qualilkalio1i'.as to experience. There- E
.fore; oi1 the face of it the s~lection of respondent No. 6 for the post
of Senior Biochemist is utterly unsustainable. More so because·
· there· were others who fulfill\:d all es~cntial qua!lflcatipn and one is
· .left to· speculate the reasons which weighed with the · Selection Coin-
. mittee 'to reject them and .to .select a person who did riot fulfil. the
essential qualification foi such a: post as Sei1io1' Biochemist, claiming
F
non-existent pow'?r to relax the ,qualification'.·

Jn this co.ntext one more submission may be disposed of. It
•

'.
• was said thatlhe Committee consisted of experts and they were highly
qualified persons who woµld be able to evaluate· and assess the relative
merits of each ofthe candidate °before it and the. Court is least com-

.
...
\
0

. potent lo do so and therefore it-would bebnwise to substitute experts'
decjsion by Courts'· de(isiOn. In .this connectioi1,. ·re\jance' Was placed
on- Dr. M.C. Gupta&. Ors., v. Dr. A run Kumar Gupta & Ors.''' in
which this _Court held as under '
H
(1) [1979] 2 s.c.c . 339
234 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1984] 2 s.c.R.

A ".When selection is made by the Commission aided a.nd
advised by experts having technical experience and. · high
academic qualifications in the specialist field, probing
teaching/research experience ·in technical. subjects, the Coifris
·.should be slow to interfere with the opinion expressed by
experts unless there are allegations of mala tides against
B them. It would normally be prudent and safe for the courts
to· ]eave the decision of academic. matters to expei·ts who·
are more familiar with the problems they face than the
• courts genera!ly. can be. Undoubtedly, even such a bod& if
"I
it were to contravene rules and regulations binding upon it. \----
the court in excerise of exfraordinary jurisdiction to enforce (
c rule of law, may _interfere in a·writ pe.tition under Art. 226."
' was urged that once it is conceded that as the power of selection
It
and appointment vests in the !CAR, the· Court should not usurp
that· power merely because it-would have .chosen a different' person ·•
as better qualified (See State ofBiharv; Dr. Asis Kumar Mukherjee 1"
D Undoubiedly, the Court must look with respect upon the performance
of duties by experts in the respective fields as bas been sa.id in Dr. M.C.
Gupta's .case .. ·However, the task of ushering a society based on rule
of la.t'' is entrusted to. this Court and it cannot abdicate its functions.
Once it is lnost satisfiactorily established that the Selection Committee .
. did not have the power to ·relax essential qualification pertaining to
E experience, the entire process of selection of the 6th respondent was in
contraven-tio.n of t)le established norms prescribed byadver tisement ·
and power of the, Selection Committee and procedure of fair and just
selection and equality in the matter of pub lice mployment and to rectify
,_
resultant injustice and establ_ish constitutional ,value this C.~urt must
·interfere. Selection bf respondent No. 6 is contrary to rules and
.F orders.and ni violation of prescribed norms of qualification. He was
ineliibleg for the post• when selected. His selection and appointment
would ·b~ required to be quashed and ·set aside.

The present position however is that the post of Senior. Bio-
chemist has been abolished. Undoubtedly, respondent No.· 6 by
undeserved benefit of improper selection has scored a march over his
co1leagues in the ma tier of pay scales to ~hich be would not be .entitled.
Petitioner Dr. Gupta was put in the scale of Rs. JJ00-1600 in 1978
while respondent No. 6.Dr. Mehta was.put in that scale in. 1980 that
.is two years after the petitioner. By the . .
illegal selection
.
respondent
H
(!) [1975) 2 S.C.R· 894
..
..
P. K. IYER v. UNfoN (Desai. J.) 235

No. 6 has reached the scale ·of Rs. 1~00-2250 while Dr. Gupta is in A
the •cale of Rs. 1500-2000. Respondent No. 6 Dr. Mehta· is
enjoying this utterly undeserved \Jenefit consequent. upon .his· unsus-
tainable selection as Senior Biochemist:

Now that the post of Senior Biochemist is abolis)fed, how do
we redress the wrong. At the hearil)g of this petition, it was suggested
to ·the respondents .to put both Dr. Gupta and Dr. Raman .whose
case. will be presently examined in t\ie scale of Rs 1800-2250 from
'· the date respondent No. 6 Dr. Mehta has. been elevated to that scale,

-. That is the only way for securing justice to Dr .. Gupta and·he is entitled
to it. ·
The second grievance of Dr. Gupta is that be was illegally
removed from the membership of the Post-graduate Faculty by the
c
. Academic Council. Few relevanf facts in this connection are that Dr.
G!ipta felt that he was .unjustly treated by bis s.uperiors by not allocat-
ing students for Ph.D. to him and by not facilitating post-graduate
· teaching. There is a .fong drawn-out correspondence in this behalf
,
which we consider unnecessary to refor to save and except the letter
D
·dated May 30; 1970 which has been treated by the Academic Council ·
as a letter of resignation of Dr. Gupta from the membership of the
_Faculty. By this letter pettioner Dr. Gupta informed. the Academic
Council that even though he has been repeatedly assur~d that his
grievance would be theroughly e~amined and full justice would be.done
to him for the discriminalvn ·and victimisation to which he has been
E

.. subjected in the m.atter of allotment of students .of 1968 and 1969
batches, nothing has been done in this behalf. He further states
that he has been all along patiently waiting for the redressal of his
grievance, yet justice has not been done· to him. He then states as".
under: · ·
F
"As such, after showing so much patience in the matter,
I am sorry to decide that fshould resign from the membership
of the Faculty in protest against such a treatment and aga\nst
the disciiniination and victimization shown to me by the
Head of the Division .in· the allotment of students of 1968
and 1969 batches and departmental candidates." G
This letter was .placed before the meeting of the Academic
Council convened on May 3, 19nchaired by respondent No. 4. Letter
dated May 30, 1970 of the petitioner was placed on the agenda at .
Item No. 17 .. In this connection, the Academic Council resolved H
as·under:
•
•

'
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1984] 2 S.C.R.

.A "Y~ur Jette; was c01~sideredby the Council at.its meeting '>-.
held on "3rd May, 1971 when the· Council came to the ·un-
ani.mous conclirnion that youyiere.noUnterestcd in ~ontinuing "-)
as Faculty Member and hence the Council regrets tq utilize
a
your ser~ices as Faculty Member of the P.G. Schoo.I any
··more."-·
B
The callous and heartless attitude of th.e Academic .Council
is shocking .. lt adds insult to injury .. Dr. _Gupta has been the victim
·Of unfair treatment because he raised a voice of dissent against certain
c.laims made by the high-up in ICAR in the field of Research. Avoiding

-
,_,_
going .into t_he. details of it, this. resu.lted in Dr. ·Gupta. being denied (
c the allocation ·Of students. 'He did not act in a p1'ccipi_tatc ·manner ..
· H.e· went on writing Jeiter after letter even .including to respondent
No. 4 ·b.e.seeching him to look into the matter and to ren<\er justice
to him: When everythirtg fell on deaf ears, out of exasperation be
wrote letter dated May 30, 1970 in.which he stated that the only honou-
0

rable e.ourse left open io him was to· resign. rattier than suffer. The
D Council siezed upon this opportunity to .gel rid of Dr. Gupta: In this
connection, it is worthwhile to point. out paragraph 11.l in Chapter .
Xl of the. Gajendragadkar Committee's report wherein the maj.or
compl~ints regarding ·working conditions in the Divisions were listed
as under ; . .

E · • "(i) The Head of the Division does not give Jacitities for
work. He favo~rs those who ""l'k for l)im .
. (ii) ·there is no academic atmosphere as there is no free_ dis-.
· cµssioJ\ on.research projects and _res.ults obtained:

(iii) "Senior Scientists insert their names in research papers
F even thol!gh they do.not do the acfoal work. .,
(iv) Purchase of chei.n"icals, glassware _etc. take iuordinate delay.

(v) .Scientists· are not alJowed to. use certain equipments
which are available in the Division or in 'the °Institute.
.G For. e_xample,, the equipments available in the Division '
of Biochemistry. of IARJ. ate no.t shared by all the
colleagues of the Division.. The Nuclear .Research
Laboratdry has several .equipments which scientists of
other Divisions normally_ cannpt use."
B . .
After.listing these complaints, the Committee gave its cornidered
opinio_n as under :
•
•
P. K. IYER v. UJ'l!ON (Desai, J.) 237

11.2 · We feel that most of these complaints art genuin<' ai1d A
they should k remedied. The working conditions for
scientists should be made attractive so that a. scientists
would be encouraged to engage himself in research rather
than ·eng~ge himself in. unacademic aCtivities. So the
conditions ina Division should be set right first."
· (underliningours) B

The Committee proceeded to make numerous recommendaticm
. to ameliorate. the situation. Jn. this co.ntext we would also like to
.
refer to paragraph I 3 at page l 52 of. the Report which reads as under:

"As more instances of allegatibns of uilscientiJ,ic attitudes, c
behaviour. and practices in IARI, we ·cite the following.·
These com(; from the submissions made by three .scientists
·o.f the Bio-chemistry Division of JARJ, Dr. T.S. Rarran
chaUen-ges
.
the findings in the.Ph.D .. thesis of. Dr.
~ .
LS. Mehta,
a Bipchemist in, the Nuclear Resean:h Laboratory. Dr.
Raman categorically asserts that certain data ccntain<d in D
Dr. Meht;r's thesis "could not hr.ve been obtained by methcds
he has. claimed to have. been used." Dr. Y.P. Gupta who
appArently has himself worked. on ·the lysine content of
different varities of wheat, states that in the half-yearly report
for period ending October, 1968,.he· had.reported the lysine
· content of Sonora-64 to be 3.26.%,- but that the Heed ofthe ·E
Division deli.berately changed it to 2.26 % so that the Sharabati
. Sonora might appear in a more favourable light. Be seriously

- disputes the data ori the protein · and lysine-content
of Sharabati · Sonora published .by. Dr. Swaminath_an in
· - the· November 1967 issue of the journal ;,Focd Industries'' ..
. Dr. K.G. Sikka states that four varities. of Arhar (cajanus) .F .
have been recently released which h'e finds contain certain.
toxk ·substance causing blindness a.mong rats. Within the
short time available to us, it has not been possible for us·
to examine these allegations. We do not also think that it .
would be a fruitful course for 'us to pursue .. It is obvious
that these are very serious allegatons: Wheiher thay are G .
substantiat.ed a careful .exairtaiion, the fact remains thnt
there are many junior scientists in IARI who, rightly or
wrongly, feel 'that they ·are not free to publish a. scientific'.
· filiding because it doesnot suit somebody higher. up or
t.hat .in fact unscientific data are being. ,passtd on to the H
hrgher, a~thorities in_ retufn Of favOurs and promotiOns.
238 SUPREME COUJ\T. REPORTS [I 984] 2 s.c.R:.

A The existence of this feeling is most regretable because it
creates the conditions for breeding of unscientific behaviour
and practices _if they do not already .exist. Mere refutation
ofthe allegations will not iherefore do."
. . .
br. Gupta's complaint .was then noted and that is the com-
B plaint which awaits redressal. H clearly transpires that Dr. Gupta
was hounded out ofthe Faculty_ membership and now the respondents
try to hide this inconvenient fact by treating the cry oCagony in the
letter dated May 30, 1970 as letter of resignation. Apart from being
harsh, it is an unethical attitude on .the part of the !CAR. However, ·
at this s!age, we would record a statetment made by_ Mr. Lokur,
c learned counsel appearing for ICAR and its affiliates before this Court
on Ju.y 21, 1976 at the hearing of S.L.P. No. 2339/75preferred by
petitioner. Dr. Gupta whic11' reads· as under:

'.'Mr. Lokur states that th·e respondent council would .
. consider the question of taking back thepetitioner as a
D · member of the Faci1lty."

After recording. this statement the special leave pet1llcn was
rejected. It was hoped that the respondents would act to honour ·
the statement of their learned counsel. Now that the matter is being
disposed of we direct the council to carry out. its statement made
E before this Court within three months from the date from. today. .

Re: R.P. Nq.- 80/76 in S.L.P. 702/76 : . br. T.S. Raman filed
the writ petition in the Delhi ·High Court challenging the selection · 7
and appointmeni of respondent No._ 6 as Senior Bio.chemist en aHthe .
grofmds which were utged by Dr. Y.P. Gupfa in his writ petitcn.
F· There is also an additional point in his favour in ihat even though the ,
first ·Selection Committee constituted· to select' a Senior Biochemist · -1
>. had directed that the second Selection Committee shou'd interview "
-Dr. T.S. Raman along· with other candidates, no intimation was "nt
to him about the date and time of the interview ·and he did not .
have the benefit of the interview by the second Selection Committee
which· recommended respondent· No. 6 Dr. Mehta for the. post of
Senior Biochemist.· Dr. T.S. Raman questicr.<d th cc'rrcclr"' Hnd
validity .of the selection of Dr. S.L. Mehfa; respondent No. 6 in Special
Leave Petition 702/76 whch was heard and disposed of along with the .
writ petition of Dr. Gupta and met with the same fate. Dr. Raman
H preferred S.L.P. No. 702/76 which was dismis_sed by this Ccurt en
. August' 30,. 1976. Thereafter, he filed Review Petition No~ 80/76

..
p, K. IYER~- UNION (Desai, J.) 239
•
. which was directed to be heard in this group of petitions. The reasons A
which found favour with us for reviewing the decision of this Court
dismissing the S.L.P. No. 2339/75 preferred by Dr. Gupta and admitt-
'i ing it and disposing it on merits would mutatis mutandi.1' apply to
the review· petition of Dr. T.S. Raman and we accordingly review
the decision rejecting his special leave petition and grant special leave
to ,appeal and procetd to dispose of the same on merits . B
• Ordillarily Dr. Ramari should get the sari1e relief which Dr.
Gupta is held entitled to, but certain facts were brought to cur notice
which necessitate a consideraHon of Dr. Raman's case · slightly
· differently. Before we prcicee.d to examine Dr. Raman's case, it ·
may .be noted that the High Court found fault with Dr. R~man in not · c •
informing the concerned authority about the change in his address
and therefore, if Dr. Raman did not receive·the intimaticn for inter'
view, he should thank himself. This approacq dces not ccmmen(,I
to us. Dr .. Raman was sti!J in the employment of the.Institute at the
time when the Seco~d . Selection Committee · decided to interview
candidates and in .view of ihe findings of the first Select[on Cvmmitt<;e, n
Dr. Raman was entfrled ~s a matter of right to be called for interview.
The High Court observed that Dr. Raman neither applied for the
post nor appeared for the interview before the second Se!ecticn Ccm-
mittce: This is begging the issue became the High Ccurt wl1olly
overlooked the prcceedings of the first Selection Committee in which
it was decided that without any fresh applicaticn from Dr. Raman, E
he would be considered to be a candidate before the second Selection
. Committee arid would be <:ailed for interview. There is a further
co1ifession in the· observation of the High Court when it states that
Dr. Gupta and .Dr. Raman were both at ihe relevant' time working
in the _Biochemistry Department of the Institute and that Dr. Gupta
appeared for the interview before the Second. Selection Committee F
while Dr. Ram~n failed to do so and he cannot make a grievance
about his own lapse. If Dr. Raman was at the relevant time a!fachd
.to the Institute and was working with the Institute, we see no justi- .
fication· for the ministerial side of the Institute not informing Dr.
R 1man to a'ppear for interview. The lapse was on the part of the
Selection Committee and the same cani10t be wished away. The · G
. High Court was clearlv in error in observing that either Dr, Raman
was not hopefui of getting the job. ot he had some other reasons fer
not applying for the same and therefore his grievance cannot be
entert~iried. This is clcarlv contrary to record: He qad applied
e.arlier and was entitled to be called for interview as noted in the · H
proceedings. "It was obligatorv upcn the fcccrd Sekcticn Ccrrmittee

•
. 240 SUPREME COURT REP.ORTS [1984] 2 s. c.R. ·

A to inform· Dr. Ra;nan ti:l appear. fo( .the interview and· aaequate steps
· sh.ould have 'qoe1naken to give. the intimation because he was attached
. to the Tnstitute and was in active. service of the Tnstitute and intimation.
to tiim would not requirn anv herculean effort on the part of th~
Committee.· If'the matter wece Id rest here, we. would have unhesta- 'II
. tingly given ·the same reli~f which Dr. G'upta is held entitled tc;, but
B. certain additional .facts were put on re.cord which ·necessitate a diff-
.1
erent, np.proach. ··

· lt maf he recalled that since· the re.vision. of tl1e icale attached
to •fhe post of Professo; tci Rs, 1100-1600, further promotion was to·
·the ·.scale of Rs. 1500-2000 and the next promotional stage ·was
• c R>. 1800-2250. It no\v transpires that Dr~ Raman was made a member
of 'f\gricu!tural Resea1'.ch Science .(ARS) with effect from o:ctober 2, ·
1975 and he was ·put in .the sba 1e .S-2 Rs. 1100-1600 from the same·
date .. Rule 19 of the Agricultural Research Service Rules pi'ovided
for promJtion. from one grade to next higher g1ade on the basis of y
assessrfient of performance by Agrirnltural Scientific Recruitment
Board (ASRB).. The screening for the .purpose ·of. promotion to·
higher gr:ide is pcri:O.dically undeFtake11'every. year as far.as practicable
sJincwh~re in Janu~1ry or s·o_on thGr~after. ··sucl11 a Screening was'
. undertaken on October 26, 1977 by the A~sessment Committee appoiiit-
t~a bv the Chairman of ASRB. The period under. Jssessment was
upto ~nd in2iusiw of December 31, 1915. Unfortunately, ·or. Rama~ ·~·
E w.ts not recommended by the Committee for 'pro1110tion to S-3 grade
i.e, .!ls: 1500,2000; but instead of promotion .lo the higl)ergrado, the
Committee recolirn1ended that two .advance incrcme.nts te granted
to Dr. Raman which recommendation was ca.rried out with effect
from July I, 1976: Against the assessment by the Assessment Com-
. ·mitteo, Dr. Roman made representation e1aiming that ,he was eligible
F for promotion to ,S,3 .gra.de. · This represcntaiirn ""'s .rejcc1crl. ·.by
the· Director General concurring with the sssessir.cnt inrck by the
Asscssm~nf · Cotnrnitti::e· which. did 1~·ot find .Dr. Ran1an ~t for p'ron10~
·tion· to S-3 grad~: In 197.8 ·or. R·anian was requ~stcd to. g·i:;e sup-
plementary infor~ation ·about. the research \vork und.ertcken by
him for assessment for ·promotion.1o S-3 grade. In. the. meeting of
G the Assessment Cori1mittee held on. May· 28, 1980,. the i.nformaticn
supplied .bY Dr. Raman· wasJ1eldt~ ·be insufficient and this. can be
· cul!ed· out· from the observation'. of th~ Commit.tee that Dr. Ramai1
· "co.uld ri0t be a.ssessed for want. of material and CCRs for alI the
years'. The case .of Dr. Ram.an for promotion to S-3 ·.grade again
came up before the Assessment Committee which met on April. 22 ..
1982 and the Committee noted its' de~ision con'V(ycd by 'the woi·ds

•·.
P. K. IYER v. UNION (Desai, 1.) 241

'no change'. Now these assessments are not questioned in the writ A
petition filed by Dr. Raman and these are later developments and
therefore, it would be difficult to give Dr. Raman any benefit at this
stage wholly ignoring the later developments

The learned counsel for· the ICAR after succintly pointing
out the fact• hereinbefore mentioned, submitted that it is not possible B
to accord same treatment to Dr. Raman on par with Dr. Gupta wholly
ignoring later developments. He however frankly and fairly stated
that if the Court directs, the InstitUte has no objection to appointing
afresh Committee for making a fresh assessment for ascertaining
the suitability of.Dr. Raman for promotion to S-3 grade on the basis
of the material regarding work done :ind achievements made by h;m c
for the period commencing from.becember 31, 1976 npto· the period
he bas been assessed or uptil now. It was further submitted that
if the special Assessment Committee which may be set up to examine
the case of Dr. Raman recommends his promotion to S) grade,
the same can be given to him with effect from Jst of July of the year
( following the year upto which he submits his wofk done and other D
achievements. Dr. Raman is in the.grade of Rs. I 100-1600 since 1975.
A period of 8 years has rolled by. He is undoubtedly a highly qualified
person. It is equally true that he bas been asses'sed thrice and found
wanting for promotion to the higher grade. However, we appreciate
the fair attitude adopted by the learned counsel in this behalf and
accordingly direct that the Institute shall set up a special AsscSfment E
Committee to assess the suitability of Dr. Raman for prcmotion
to S-3 grade by examining bis work from 1976 till today. This may
be done within a period of three months from today.

Except for what we have recommended in the foregoing para-
graph, it is not possible to give Dr. Raman· any other relief which F
Dr. Raman would have been held entitled on the ground that it was
·an error of the second Selection Committee not to have interviewed
him or not to have considered .his case in absentia as directed b'i the.
first se.lection Committee. Though the lapse was on the part of the
respondents, the resultant situatio'n has become irremediable and
irreversible. Therefore, with the observations and directions made G
in the foregoing paragraph, the appeal arising from the special leave
petition of Dr. Raman fails and is dismissed.

Re: C.A. No. 1043/81 : Appellant Om Prakash Khauduri
after obtainirlg post-graduate degree in the discipline 'Opcratirnal H
Research' iri 1973-74 joined the post of Senior Computer in Indian
242 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1984] 2 s.c.R.

A Agricultiiral Statistics Institute, an affiliate of ICAR on December 4,
1975. The Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board ('ASRB' for
short) has been constituted by the ICAR with the approval of the
Government of India as a recruiting agency for the various posts
in Agricultural Research Service (ARS' for short). ASRB issued
an advertisement intimating that it would hold competitive public
B 'examination in 1978 to recruit scientists to be appointed under various
disciplines of 'ARS'. For the information of the intending candi-
dates, ASRB made available the rules framed by the JCAR on August
19, 1977 ('1977 Rules' for short) setting out the terms and conditions
for admission to the competitive examination and the criteria fer .,,
selection of successful candidates etc. The competitive examination
c was to consist of written tesfhaving '600 marks followed by a viva
voce test carrying 100. marks. The final selection was to be done
according to the merit list, which would be arranged by the ASRB
in the order of 1mrit in each category as disclosed by the aggregate
m>rks f\nally awarded to each candidate as per Rule 14 of 1977 Rules.
In response to the advertisement, petitioner applied on Oct. 26, 1977
)
D for being admitted to the examination and his application was accepted
and potitioner appeared in the written test. He secured 364 marks
out of 600 in the written te'st which qualified him for being called
[or viva voce test. 'Tn all 20 candidates inciuding the petitioner were
selected for viva voce test. After the viva voce test, the ASRB dec-
lared the names of 13 candidates as successful and finally selected
E them for ARS in the discipline 'Agricultural Statistics'. The petitioner
was not am.ong the successful candidates. In fact, nearly 21 vacancies
were left unfilled by the ASRB. Petitioner contends that ASRB
contravened Rules 13 and -14 by prescribing minimum marks for
qualifying at viva voce test at 40 out of 100 and those who did not
secure 40 marks, even if on aggregate of the marks were eligible for
F being included in the merit list, such .candidates were wrongly exclu-
ded from the merit list. Petitioner further conteds that the merit
list prepared in contravention of Rules 13 and 14 and the resultant '1
sefoetion based on such illegal and invalid merit list is liable to be
q uashcd and a mandamus be issued directing the respondents to
prepare a fresh merit list in accorda11ce with Rules 13 and 14. The
G p-;titioner made variou~ representations and he was satif:ficd that

I
the ASRB had accepted the same method cif preparir g the .rr,erit
list as the UPSC which followed the. method of arranging the merit
list according to the aggregate marks obtained at the writtrn test
and viva vocc test and if the merit list was prepared according to
H that method, he was eligible for being selected for one'Of the vacancies
in ARS. Petitioner continued his 'search for justice and ultimately'
P. IC. IYER v. UNION (Desai, J.) 243

he filed a Writ Petition No. 553/80 in the High Court ·of Delhi for A
the above mentioned reliefs. A Division Bench of the High Court
held that the law as it then stood was clear that a Society registered
under the Societies Registration Act was not other authority within
meaning of the expression under Art. 12 and that as ICAR is a society,
writ jurisdiction cannot be invoked against it and on this short ground
writ petition filed by the petitioner was rejected in limine. Hence .B.
). this appeal by special leave.

The narrow question that falJs to be determined in this appeal
is whether under the relevant rules ASRB can prescribe minimum
qualifying marks which a candidate µrnst obtain at the viva voce
test before his name can be included in the merit list on the basis c
of aggregate marks obtained by him ·as required by Rule 14 of the
· 1977 Rules? · . .

ASRB has been set up as a separate and independent agency
for recruiting personnel for IASRT, an affiliate of !CAR. A com-
petitive examination was held in 1978 to recruit scientists to be D
appointed under various disciplines of ARS including the discipline
'Agriculture Scientists'. There were 34 vacancies in this discipline.
Selection was to be made by competitive examination comprising
written test carrying 600 marks in the aggregate and viva voce test
carrying JOO marks. The written test is held first and those who
qualify in the written test alone are eligible to be called for viva vcce E

- ~est. It is alleged and not controverted that ASRB prescribed
· that anyone to be eligible for being admitted in the merit list on the
basis of aggregate marks should also have the additional qualification
of atleast obtaining 40 marks in the viva voce test. -It is seriously
'\-- contended that this additional qualification <lo!'s not have the authority
f of law, and that it was arbitrarily devised without any rationale behind F
it.

The relevant rules are Rules 13 and 14 of the 1977 Rules, which
may be extracted :

"13. Candidates who obtain such minimum marks in the G
the written examination as may be fixed by the Board
in their discretion shall be summoned by them for viva
voce.

14. After the examination, the candidates will be arranged H·
by the Board in the order of merit in each category
244 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1984] 2 s.c,R.

A (professional subject-wise) as disclosed by the aggregate
marks finally awarded to such candidate and such
· candidates as are found by the Board to be qualified
by the examination shail be recommended for appoint-
ment upto the number of unreserved vacancies decided
to be fiiled on the result of the examination."
B
Mr. Ramchandran, learned counsel for the petitioner contrndcd
that Rule l3 does not. envisage obtaining of minimum marks at the ~,
viva voce test even tho.ugh it contemplates obtaining minimum marks
at the written test so as to be eligible for being called for viva voce ~
·test. It was.further urged that_Rule 14 specified the manner in which
c merit list is to be arranged. R\1le 14 provides that after both written
and viva voce tests are held, the candidates will be arranged by the
Board in the order of merit in each category (Professional subjectwiee)
as disclosed by the aggregate I]1arks finally awarded to each can- ,._
didate and such candidates as are found by the Board to be qualified
by the examination shall be recommended for appointment upto the
number of unreserved vacancies decided to be filled on the result
of the examination. On a combined reading of Rules 13 and 14,
two things emerge. It is open to the Board to prescribe minimum
marks which the candidates must obtain at the written test before
becoming eligible for viv~ .voce test. After the candidate obtains ';..._,
minimum marks or more al \he written test and he becomes eligible
E for being called for viva voce test, he- has to appear at the viva voce
test. Neither Rule 13 nor Rule 14 nor any other rule enables thy
ASRB to prescribe minimum qualifying marks to be obtained by the . · -
candidate at the viva voce test. On the contrary, the language of
Rule 14 clearly negatives any such power in the ASRB when it pro-
vides that after the written test if the candidate has obtained minimum -1
F marks, he is eligible for being called for viva voce test and the final l .
merit list would be drawn up according to the aggergate of marks
obtained by the candidate in written test 'plus viva voce examinatiou.
The additional qualification which ASRB prescribed to itself namely,
that the candidate must have a further qualification of obtaining
mil).imum marks in the viva voce test does not find place in Rules 13
G and 14, itamounts virtua\1~ to a modification of the Rules. By
necessary inference, there was no such power in the ASRB to add· )..
to the· required qualifications. If such power is claimed, it" has to
be explicit and cannot be .read by necessary implication for the obvious
reason that such deviation from the rules is likely to cause irreparable
H and irreversible harm. It howe¥er does not appear in the facts of
the case before us that because· of an allocation of JOO marks for
p. K. IYER v. UNION (Desai, J.) . 245

"iva voce test, the result has been unduly affected. We ·say so for A
want of adequate material on the record. In this background we
are not inclined to hold that 100 marks for viva voce test was unduly
high compared to 600 marks allocated for the written. test. But the
• ASRB in prescribing minimum 40 marks for being qualified for viva
· voce test contravened Rule 14 inasmuch as there was no such power
in the ASRB to prescribe this additional qualification, and this B
prescription of an impermissible additional qualification has'a direct
impact on the merit list because the merit list was to be prepared
according to the aggregate marks obtained by the candidate at written
~ test plus viva voce test. Once an additional qualification of cbtaining
I
minimum marks at the viva voce test iSadhered to, a candidate who may
figure high-up in the merit list was 'likely to be rejected cin the ground c
that he has not obtained minimum qualifying marks at viva Voce
test. To illustrate, a candidate who has obtain<d 400 marks at the
written test and obtained 38 marks, at the viva voce test, if considered
on the aggregate of marks being 438 was likely to come within the
zone of selection, but would be eliminated by the ASRB on the g'round
that he has not obtained qualifying marks at viva voce test. This D
was impermissible and contrary to Rnles .and the merit list prepared
in contravention of the Rules cannot be sustained .
•
It may at this stage be pointed out that the Union Public Service
Commission has framed its rules relating to competitive examination
held by it in 1978 to recruit personnel to Indian Economic Service and E

- y
the Indian Statisical Service. Rule 12 and 13 are relevant for this
purpose. Briefly, it may be stat~d that rule 12 authorises the Com-
mission to prescribe minimum qualifying marks for the written·
examination to be fixed by the Commission at its discretion. It
further ·appears that those. who obtain the minimu~ qualifying
marks will be eligible for being called for viva voee test. Rule 13 F
' provides that after the examination i.e. both the written test aµd the
viva voce test, the candidates will be arranged by ·the Commission
in the order of merit as disclosed by the aggregate marks finally awar-
' ded to each candidate and in that order so many candidates as are
found by the Commission to be qualified by the examination shall
be recommended for appointment upto the number of unreserved G
vacanc'es decided to be filled on the. result of the examination. There
is a proviso to this rule which is imm•terial. It appears that when
the petitioner drew attention of the ICAR that in prescribing the
additional qualification of minimum. marks to be obtained by the
candidates ·at the viva' voce test and not preparing the merit list accor-' H
ding to the aggregate of marks by excludirtg those candidates who
246 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1984] 2 .S.C.R.

A ha<l not obtained minimum qualifying marks at the viva voce test!
it contravened Rules 13 and 14 and more particularly Rule .I 4. the
ICAR referred the matter to UPSC and enquired about the procedure
followed by it. There is an admission in the counter-affidavit of
Mrs. Rathi Vinay Jha. Secretary, ICAR and Deputv Secretary,
.. I
''
Government of India, Department of ·Agricultural . Research and
B Education, Ministry of .Agriculture and Rural Reconstruction that
after the UPSC intimated its procedure: the matter was placed before
the Committee of ARS at its meeting held on July 11, 1979. Sub-
sequently, the President, ICAR approved the procedure followed
·by the UPSC and recommended by the Committee of ARS, and
the revised procedure was adopted for the examination 'held in
c January,· 1981. The re,ised procedure eliminates obtaining of mini-
mum quali(ying maiks at viva voce test. May be that the ICAR has '
corrected itself but what about the da_mage done to the petitioner
and those similarly situated.

It is not possible at this late stage to reject the entire selection
D on the ground that the ASRB committed a serious legal error in
prescribing minimum qualifying marks at the ·viva voce test and
drawing up merit list on this impermissible method. It would be
equally improper to disturb the selection of those who had been
selected and appointed way back in 1978. Even though -it is true
that a serious legal error has been committed in drawing up the merit
E list, at this late stage, it would be unwise to reject the entire selection,
disturbing those who are a'lready selected and may have put in service
·of not less than 5 years. But it is crystal clear that 21 _vacancies were
kept unfilled. It is not made clear whether the petitioner has been
selected at apy later selection. If he is selected at the later selection,
nothing further is required to be done: But if he is not selected,
-
F the ASRB may draw the merit list in respect of remaining 21 unlilkd
vacancies from amongst •those who were called for viva voce test
and who were not selected because some of them like petitioner did
not obtained. minimqm qualifving marks at viva· voce test. The
merit list may be drawn in respect of those who though called for
viva voce did not qualify for being put in the merit, ignoring the
•
G concept of minimum qualifying marks a merit list in respect
of them be drawn up on the basis of aggregate marks. If there
is a vacancy, and if the petitioner comes within the zone
of selection on the· aggregate of marks obtained by him, his
case shall be considered for appointment prospectively, and not
H retrospectively. This is the only relief which we are inclined to grant
to the petitioner.
•

p, K. IYER v . UNION (Desai, J.) 247

That is the end of the journey. It is better to draw-up here A
the directions in respect of each of the petitioner.

In Writ Petition No. 587/75, the !CAR is directed on· their.
concession and by a mandamus of this Court to put the three petitioners
in the revised scale of Rs. 1100-1600 sanctioned for the post of Profossor
effective from the day. when others selected as P1 ofrssors. in sister B
disciplines were awarded the revised scale of Rs. 1100-1600.

In Special Leave Petition No. 2339/75, the !CAR is directed
bv a mandamus of this Court to a ward to Dr. Y. P. Gupta the s~ak '
of Rs. 1800-2250 from the date the same was given to respondent
No. 6 Dr. S.L. Mehta. The arrears payable pursuant to the direction c
shall be paid within 3 months from today.

Further the !CAR is directed to cam out the statement made
by its learned counsol Mr. Lokur of taking back Dr. Y.P. Gupta as
a member of the Faculty of post-graduate school of !ARI within a
poricld ·or 3 months from .today. D
fn S.L.P. No. 702/76, it is directed on the concession of the
learned counsel for the !CAR that a special Assessment Committee
may be set up to examine the case of Dr. T.S. Raman for promotion
to S-3 grade' \Vithin a ·per;od ·of 3 months.• Dr. T:s. Ra1nan is not
entitled· to any further relief in his special leave petition. E

Jn C.A. 1043/81, the ICAR and ASRB arc directed to prepare

- ·the 1nerit list in respect of those candidates who were called for viva
voce test, but \vere 11ot included in the n1crit list on the aggregate
of m1rks obtained by them as directed hercjn and if there is a vacancv
and the appellant/petitione;. comes within the zone of selection h~ F
shall be appointed to one such vacancy. The appointn1cnt would
be prospoctive and would be 'effective from the date of the appoint-
ment but this is subject to the condition that if the appellant/petitioner
'
is already selected at a later selectic•n, nothing inore is required to
be done.
G
• We order accordingly. The respondent shall pny the costs of
the petitioners in each petition.

N.V.K. Appeals & Petitions allowed. iI