Supreme Court of India
STATE OF BIHAR AND ANR.versusBAL MUKUND SAH AND ORS.
- Citation
- 2000 INSC 137
- Decided
- 14 March 2000
- Disposal
- Dismissed
- Bench
- S B MAJMUDAR
Holding
Section 4 of the Bihar Reservation Act is ultra vires and does not apply to recruitment of district judges or subordinate judiciary, as it conflicts with Articles 233 and 234.
Summary
The Supreme Court examined whether Section 4 of the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Act, 1991 (as amended) could be applied to the recruitment of district judges and other members of the subordinate judiciary. The Court held that the provision conflicted with Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution, which provide a complete code for the appointment of judicial officers and require consultation with the High Court. Consequently, Section 4 cannot govern recruitment to the judicial service and must be read down. The Court affirmed the High Court’s order striking down the reservation scheme for district judges, while allowing the existing 14 % SC and 10 % ST reservation under the 1955 Rules to continue. The appeals by the State of Bihar were dismissed with directions to follow the modified scheme.
Issues considered
- The constitutionality of Section 4 of the Bihar Reservation Act as applied to recruitment of district judges and subordinate judicial officers
- Whether Articles 233, 234, 235 and 309 of the Constitution preclude legislative reservation schemes for judicial recruitment
- Whether the State Legislature can enact reservation provisions without consultation of the High Court
Legislation cited
- Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes) Act, 1991s. 2(a), s. 2(c), s. 2(n), s. 3, s. 4, s. 5, s. 6
- Bihar Superior Judicial Service Rules, 1951
Subjects
reservationjudicial serviceArticles 233Articles 234Article 309independence of judiciaryseparation of powersconstitutional validityBihar Actdirect recruitmentdistrict judgessubordinate judiciary
Judgment
STATE OF BIHAR AND ANR. A
v. I
BAL MUKUND SAH AND ORS.
MARCH 14, 2000
[S.B. MAJMUDAR, G.B. PATTANAIK, V.N. KHARE, RP. SETHI B
AND UMESH C. BANERJEE, JJ.]
Constitution of India, Articles 233, 234, 235 and 309-Bihar Reserva-
tion of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Schedule Castes Scheduled Tribes
and Other Backward Classes) Act, /99I, s.4-Actproviding for reservation C
for direct recruitment to posts of District and subordinate Judges in Bihar-
Validity of-Held s.4 of Act in its application to subordinate judiciary was
ultra vi res Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution of India and could not be
sustained-Bihar Judicial Service (Recruitment) Rules, 1955.
Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled D
Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Act 1991, ss. 2(c), (n)
and 4-Held, even though the Act as framed applied to judicial service, the
reservation provided by s.4 would not apply to direct recruitment to cadre of
,P.istrict and Subordinate judges; the question of .filling up reserved posts in
cadre of subordi1iate judges would remain germane to the extent of 24% for
SC and ST candidates as prescribed as per the Bihar Judicial Service (Recruit-
E
ment) Rules, 1955-Constitution of India, Articles I 4, 16(4) and (4-A).
Constitution of India Articles 235 and 309 proviso read with Entry 41
List 11 and Entry I I A List Ill-Legislative power of state in relation to judicial
officers-Held, second part of Article 235 only permits legislation concerning
F
conditions of service and not in relation to process of or providing reservation
for recruitment of judicial officers.
Constitution of India, Articles 234 and 320-Consultation-With the
High Court a sine qua non.for direct recruitment ofjudicial officers at grassroot
level; stood on an entirely different footing as compared to consultation with the G
Public Service Commission.
Words and phrases-"Separation o.f powers between the legislature. the
executive and the judiciary"-"lndependent Judiciary"-Held, both concepts
were now elevated to the level of basic structure o.f the Constitution and
formed the vet)' heart of the constitutional scheme-Interpretation of Statutes. H
299
300 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2000] 2 S.C.R.
A The Bihar Superior Judicial Service Rules, 1951 ['the 1951 Rules'],
framed by the Governor of Bihar under the proviso to Article 309 and in
consultation with the High Court of Patna, did not provide for any
reservation for recruitment to the cadre of district judges. The Bihar
Judicial Service (Recruitment) Rules, 1955 ['the 1955 Rules'] framed by
the Governor of Bihar in consultation with the High Court and the Public
B
Service Commission provided for reservation to the extent of 14 % for SC
and 10 % for ST candidates in the lower judiciary at the grass-roots level.
Since the High Court had not agreed to the suggestion of the State
authorities for providing reservation in the posts of district and subordinate
c judges, the Governor of Bihar issued an Ordinance which was replaced by
>,
the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled
Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Act, 1991 ('Act')
under which SO% of the posts to be filled up by direct recruitment were to
be reserved for SCs, STs and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Reiterating
its stand that the recruitment to the posts of district judges could be made
D only in accordance with the 1951 Rules, the High court informed the State
that while making appointments from the Bar for direct recruitment,
preference may be given to SC and ST candidates of equal merit with
general category candidates. The State Government nevertheless issued an
advertisement on June 16, 1994 by which 27 of the 54 vacancies in the posts
E of district judges were to be filled up from reserved category of candidates.
Allowing the writ petitions challenging the advertisement as well as
the Act, a Division Bench of the High Court struck down the terms of the
advertisement as being ultra vires Article 233. The Act as far as it applied
reservation to recruitment of persons other than district judges, was struck
F down as ultra vires Article 234. The State then appealed to this Court.
The appellant contended that the State's power to enact legislation to
provide for reservation in posts in the judicial service was not excluded by
Articles ZJ3 to 235. Its legislative power flowed from a collective reading of ~
Articles 16(4) and 309 read with Entry 41 of List II and entry 11-A of List
G III of the Seventh Schedule. Article 234 fettered only. the rule-making
power of the Governor but not the legislative power of the State. Further,
the ·establishment
' .
of cadres and creation of posts was a stage prior to
recruitment and was in the exclusive domain of the state. On behalf of the "\
High Court it was contended that Article 309 and the state's legislative 1
H power ,the'reunder had no application t~ the subordinate judiciary. It was
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH 301
excluded by Articles 233 to 235 which represented a complete code by A
themselves. The second part of Article 235 permitted State legislation only
to govern the conditions of service of already recruit~d judicial officers.
Dismissing the appeals by majority, the Court
HELD : Per Mqjmudar, J. : 1.1. S. 4 of the Bihar Reservation of B
vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes
and Backward Classes Act, 1991 is ultra vires and in direct conflict with the
scheme of Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution. [370-G]
1.2. Articles 233 and 234 covered the entire field regarding recruitment
and appointment of district judges and judges of the subordinate judiciary C
at base level. The legislative power of the State in this field was excluded by
the constitutional scheme itSelf. Both Articles 309 and 245 would have to be
read subject to Articles 233 and 234. [337-D]
1.3. No recruitment to the post of a district judge could be made by
the Governor without recommendation from the High Court. Similarly, D
appointments to subordinate judiciary at grass-root level also could not be
made by the Governor save and except according to the rules framed by
him in consultation with the High Court and the Public Service Commission.
Any statutory provision by-passing consultation with the High Court and
laying down a statutory fiat as was tried to be done by enactment of s.4 of E
the Act was in direct conflict with the complete code regarding recruitment
and appointment to the posts of district and subordinate judiciary.
[337-BC]
1.4. Providing of reservations was not a stage anterior to the stage of
recruitment and appointment. [344-A-B] p
2.1. The Act covered judicial service of the State. S.4 of the impugned
Act would not apply for regulating the recruitment and appointments to
the cadre of district judges as well as to the cadre of judiciary subordinate
to the district judges. Such appointments would be strictly governed by the
Bihar Superior Judicial Service Rules, 1951 and the Bihar Judicial Service G
(Recruitmenti Rules, 1955 respectively. For governing direct recruitment
at the grass-root level 14% reservation for SC and 10% reservation for ST
candidates shall be followed as lJrovided by the 1955 Rules until any other
scheme of reservation was promulgated by amending the relevant rules by
the Governor after effective consultation with the High Court as envisaged
by Article 234 read with Article 309. [373-A-B] H
302 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A 2.2. Article 335 had to be given full play while enacting a scheme of
reservation envisaged by Article 16(1) and (4). Therefore, the High Court,
entrusted with the full control of subordinate judiciary under Article 235,
had to be consulted and could not be treated to be a stranger to the exercise
as envisaged by the impugned statutory provision. [340-D-E]
B
2.3. D~recting the High Court without its consent and consultation
and merely by the thrust of legislative provision that 50 % of the available
vacancies in the cadre of district judges or judges of the subordinate "t
judiciary must be filled in from reserved candidates only would ex-facie cut
across the power of the High Court which alone could recommend the
c filling up of all such vacancies in the district cadre as per Article 233 and
equally the power of the High Court to render effective consultation to the
Governor under Article 234 when he framed rules for recruitment to the
subordinate judiciary as per Article 234. (341-E-F]
2.4. If at all any reservation policy under Article 16(4) had to be
D
pursued, it had to be exercised in consonance with the scheme of Articles
233 and 234 and not dehors it. It was only the High Court which could give
green signal regarding the extent of reservations at entry points as candidates
entering on reserved posts in judicial service of the district judiciary both
at the apex level and at the grass-root level had to act under its control. In
E the absence of such a green signal by the High Court there would be no
occasion to invoke Article 16(4) read with Article 335. [352-B-H]
.....
2.5. Neither at the base level i.e. at the grass-root level of controlling
entry point to subordinate judiciary nor at the entry point at the apex level
F of the pyramid for appointing district judges, any State Legislature's
interference was contemplated or countenanced. On the contrary, it was
~
contra-indicated by necessary implication. [350-G]
Indra Sawhney v. Union of India, [1992] Suppl. 3 SCC 217; Indra
Sawhney v. Union of India, [2000] 1 SCC 168; Durgacharan Misra v. State of
G Orissa, [1987) 4 SCC 646; Dr. Pree ti Srivastava v. State of M.P., [1999] 7 SCC
120; Samsher Singh v. State of Pw~jab, AIR (1974) SC 2192; M.M. Gupta v.
State of Jammu & Kashmit; (1982) 3 SSC 412; All India Judges Association v.
Union of India, AIR (1993) SC 2493; Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record
Association v. Union of India, AIR (1994) SC 268 and The Belsund Sugar Co.
H Ltd. v. The State of Bihar. JT (1999) 5 SC 422, referred to.
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH 303
K.N. Chandra Sekhara v. State of Mysore, AIR (1963) Mysore 292; M.l. A
Nadafv. The State of Mysore, AIR (1967) Mysore 77; Manoj Kumar Panda v.
State of Orissa, {1982) Lab. I.C. 1826 and Farzand v~ Mohan Singh, AIR
(1968) All 67, approved.
3.1. To the extent to which conditions of service could be regulated by
law as laid down by Article 235 second part, a limited field was kept open B
for legislative play. But this did not pertain to recruitment or appointments
at all. [350-E]
3.2. What was permitted by Article 235 could not be considered as a
blanket power entrusted to the Legislature or to the Governor under
Article 309 by the constitutional makers dehors the complete net of
c
constitutional scheme controlling recruitment and appointment to district
and the subordinate judiciary under Articles 233 and 234. [348-A, B]
B.S. Ycidav v. State of Haryana, [1981] 1 SCR 1024, explained.
4.1. Consultation with the High Court was sine qua non for direct D
recruitment of judicial officers at grass-root level i.e. Munsiffs and
Magistrates and whose recruitment was governed by the 1955 Rules framed
under Article 234. [344-D]
4.2. Consultation, keeping in view the role of the High Court under
Article 234 read with Article 235, stood on an entirely different footing as
E
compared to the consultation with the Public Service Commission which
had to discharge its functions of entirely different type as envisaged by
Article 320 of the Constitution. [354-E]
4.3. There was no express fetter regarding consultation with the High F
Court excluding Article 16(4) as in Article 320(4). Policy decision as per
Article 16(4) had to be taken by the Governor in consultation with the High
Court while framing appropriate rules governing the recruitment and
appointments to the judicial service both at the apex level and at the grass-
root level. [354-G-H, 355-A]
G
4.4. The Legislature could not, by an indirect method, circumvent the
schedule of recruitment and appointment to district judiciary as envisaged
by the makers <f_ the Constitution. Such an exercise, apart from being
totally forbidden by the constitutional scheme, would also fall foul of the
I
concepts relating to "separation of powers between the legislature, the H
304 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2000] 2 S.C.R.
A executive and the judiciary" and an "independent judiciary". Both theSe
concepts were now elevated to the level of basic structure of the Constitution
and were the very heart of the constitutional scheme. [331-E, F]
M.M. Gupta v. State of Jammu & Kashmi1; (1982) 3 SSC 412; State of
Kerczla v. Smt. A. Lakshmikutty, [1986) 4 SCC 632; His Holiness Kesavananda
B Bharati Sripadagalvaru v. State of Kera/a, [1973) 4 SCC 255; Registrar '
(Admn.), High Court of Orissa, Cuttack v. Sisir Kanta Satapathy (Dead) by Lrs., }
[1999) 7 SCC 725; All India Judges, Association v. Union of India, AIR (1993)
SC 2493; Chandra Mohan v. State of U.P., (1967) 1 SCR 77;
Chandramouleshwar Prasad v. Patna High Court, [1969) 3 SCC 56; High
C Court of P & H v. State of Haryana, [1975) 1 SCC and A. Paiuluranga Rao v.
State of A.P., [1975] 4 SCC 709, referred to.
Per Pattanaik, J. (concurring)
1. The Act had no application to the recruitment of judicial officers in
D the State ofBihar. [381-H & 382-A]
2. The State Legislature in the garb of making law in consonance with
Article 16(4) could not encroach upon Article 234. (381-A-B]
3. The entire matter of recruitment to the post of district judge, either
E
by way of direct recruitment or by promotion, was left to the High Court
and it was the Governor who was required to make such appointment in
consultation with the High Court. The entire field of recruitment was left to
the two constitutional consultees and the opinion of the High Court in such
matter had to be of binding effect. [377.-D-F]
F
B.S. Yadav v: State of Haryana, (1981] 1 SCR 1024, referred to.
\
4.1. The second part of Article 235 protecting a right of appeal which \
an officer may have under any law made by the legislature or the Governor
related to regulating the conditions of service and not to recruitment of
G district or subordinate judges. [378-B-C]
4.2. The expression 'recruitment' and the expression 'other conditions
of service' were two distinct connotations in service jurisprudence and this
this and been borne in mind while engrafting Articles 234 and 309.
[377-C-D]
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH 305
Per Banerjee, J. (concurring) A
1.1. The plain reading of Articles 234 and 235 left no manner of doubt
as to the separate categorisation of judicial officers exclusive to themselves
and their appointment independently of Article 309. (383-GJ
1.2. The appointment of district judges rested with two constitutional B
functionaries namely, the Governor and the High Court thus withdrawing
the same from the purview of the general power as conferred by Article
309. [384-CJ
Per Sethi, J. (for himse{f and Khare, J.) (dissenting) : C
1.1. The Act was applicable to the establishment of judicial service.
The High Court was in error in declaring the Act ultra vires in~ofar_as its
applicability to judicial service was concerned and also in the matter of
interpretation of its various provisions. [436-E-F,437-F]
D
Nasiruddin v. State Transport Appellate Tribunal, AIR (1976) SC 331,
referred to.
1.2. Judicial service was a service within the meaning of Article 309.
Accordingly, the appointment of district judge under Article 233 was an
E
appointment to the public service within the meaning of Article 309 of the
Constitution. [391-C]
2. An independent judiciary could not be termed to be a creation of a
distinct service in the State being not subject to law making sovereign powers
of the Legislature. Article 309 was itself subject to other provisions to the F
Constitution which guaranteed the independence of judiciary. [391-D]
Cha11dra Mohan v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR (1966) SC 1987; S.P.
Gupta v. Union of India, [1982] 2 SCR 365 and State of Assam v. Kuseswar
Saikia, AIR (1970) SC 1616, referred to.
G
3. Judicial service was not such an independent service that it could
deprive the State legislature and the executive to enact laws and make rules
with respect to matters mentioned in Article 309 but not covered umler
Articles 233 to 236 of the Constitution. The provisions of part III Chapter
VI and Part XIV Chapter I had to be understood as complementary and H
306 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
)
A supplementary to each other. If the rules made by the executive under
Article 309 had been applied and acted upon, no objection could be taken to
the sovereign powers of the legislature to make laws with respect to judicial
service under first part of Article 309. The power under Article 309 was
subject to the opening words of the Article. [412-B, C]
B Re : Article 143, Constitution of India and Delhi Laws Act (1912) AIR
(1951) SC 332 and Hotel Balaji v. State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR (1993) SC
1048, referred to.
4. The appropriate legislature would be competent to make laws if
c authorised under Chapter XI.read with Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
In case of conflict between the Rules made under Article 234 and the laws
made by the appropriate legislature, the Rules would give way to the laws
made by the sovereign legislature. Such law made, however, may be declared
invalid or inapplicable to the judicial service if it in any way undermined
the independence of judiciary or otherwise encroached upon the
D constitutional guarantees under Chapter VI or was violative of the
fundamental rights. [429-E, G]
Chandranwuleshwar Mohan Prasad v. The Patna High Court, AIR
(1970) SC 370; All India Judges, Association v. Union of India, AIR (1993) SC
E 2493; State qf West Bengal v. Nripendra Nath Bagchi, AIR (1966) SC 447; B.S.
Yadav v. State of Haryana, [1981] 1 SCR 1024; The High Court of Punjab &
Haryana v. State qf Hmyana, AIR (1975) SC 613; Hari Datt Dainthla v. State
of Hiniachal Pradesh, AIR (1980) SC 1426; K.N. Chandra Sek.hara v. State qf
Mysore, AIR (1963) Mysore 292 and M./. Nadaf v. The State of Mysore, AIR
(1967) Mysore 77, referred to.
F
5. Reservations being part of the Constitution, the High Court ought
to have conceded to the request of the State Government for making
reservations for the weaker sections of the society. [421-A] >
G M.M. Gupta v. State qf J & K, AIR (1982) SC 1579 and Indra Sawhney
v. Union of India, [1992] Supp. 3 SCC 217, referred to.
6. The seniority of the members of the judicial service would be
determined in accordance with the Service Rules applicable and the
provisions of the Act by adjusting the candidates selected on reservation to
H fill in the reserved slots keeping in view the quota and rota rule. [437-G-H]
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 307
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 9072 of 1996. A
From the Judgment and Order dated 13.12.94 of the Patna High Court
in C.W.J.C. No. 6756 of 1994.
V.A. Bobde, F.S. Nariman, Dr. Rajeev Dhavan, Rakesh Dwivedi, K.
Sukumaran, D.D. Thakur, B.L. Yadav, B.D. Agarwal, Saket Singh, Kumar B
Rajesh Singh, B.B. Singh, Uman Nath Singh, Lakshmi Raman Singh, Amitesh
Kumar, Apurb Lal, Prakash Kumar, S.K. Verma, Ms. Kirti Sinha, Akhilesh
Kumar Pandey, R.P. Goyal, Guiab Chandra, D.K Garg, Ms. Renu George,
K.K. Misra, Vishwajit Singh, N.S. Gahlot, Anish Dayal, R.K. Singh, S.D.
Mishra, Tripurari Rai, Prashant Kumar, S.K. Sinha, R.S. Singh, Anil Kumar C
Jha, Irshad Ahmed, C.N. Shree Kumar, Balbir Singh Gupta, Manoj Prasad,
A.N. Bardiyar, B.B. Singh, P.H. Parekh and Amit Dhingra, for appearing
parties.
The following Judgments/Order of the Court were delivered :
D
S.B. MAJMUDAR, J. Leave granted in Special Leave Petition No.16476
of 1993.
Both these appeals, on granr of special leave under Article 136 of the
Constitution of India, are moved by the State of Bihar, which is common
appellant no.l in both these appeals. In Civil Appeal No.9072 of 1996 the E
Secretary, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Government
of Bihar is appellant no.2, while in the companion appeal arising from the
Special Leave Petition No. 16476 of 1993, the other contesting appellant is the
Special Executive Officer-cum-Deputy Secretary, Bihar Public Service
Commission, Patna. In both these appeals, a common question of law arises
F
for consideration, namely, whether the Legislature of the appellant State of
Bihar was competent to enact the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and
Services (for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes)
Act, 1991 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), insofar as Section 4 thereof
sought to impose reservation for direct recruitment to the posts in the Judiciary
of the State, subordinate to the High Court of Patna, being the posts of District G
Judges as well as the posts in the lower judiciary at the grass-root level,
governed by the provisions of the Bihar Judicial Service (Recruitment) Rules,
1955. Civil Appeal No.9072 of 1996 deals with the question of reservation in
the posts in District Judiciary while the companion appeal deals with the posts
in Subordinate Judiciary al grass-root level under the District Courts concerned. H
308 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2000] 2 S.C.R.
A By the impugned judgment in Civil Appeal No.9072 of 1996, a Division
Bench of the High Court has struck down the terms of the advertisement,
reserving amongst others, 27 out of 54 posts of District Judges to be filled in
by dire.ct recruitment, being ultra vires the relevant provisions of Article 233
of the Constitution· of India. It has also struck down the provisions made in
B . the impugned advertisement ·fixing up the upper age limit at 45 years for
eligibility for appointment by way of direct recruitment to these posts. That
part of the controversy no longer survives between the parties in the present
proceedings and, therefore, we need not dilate on the same. So far as the
companion appeal is concerned, the main judgment was rendered by the
Division Bench of the High Court holding that the aforesaid Act. as well as
c the earlier Ordinance which preceded
.
the same insofar as they sought to apply
the scheme of reservation of posts for governing recruitment of persons other
than the District Judges to the Judicial Service of the State were ultra vires
Article 234 of the Constitution. As the controversies involved in these appeals
have to be resolved in the light of the relevant Constitutional scheme, by an
D earlier Order dated 13th May, 1994 of this Court, they were directed to be
listed before a Constitution Bench. Subsequently in view of the statement
made by learned counsel that the matter could be disposed of by a Bench of
three Judges, the matters were directed to be placed before a three~Judge
Bench by an order dated 12th May, 1995. Thereafter a three-JUdge Bench of
E this Court by its order dated 6th November, 1997 felt that the matters raised
questions regarding interpretation of provisions of Articles 233, 234 and 309
of the Constitution and hence it would be appropriate that they are heard by
the Constitution Bench. That is how these matters have been placed before this
Constitution Bench under the directions of Hon'ble the Chief Justice
of India.
F
Before we proceed to deal with the rival contentions of learned counsel
for the respective parties in support of their cases, it becomes necessary to note
a few introductory facts.
Facts leading to Civil Appedl No. 9072 of 1996:
G
This Court, by its order dated 13th October, 1993 in Civil Appeal Nos.
4561-62 of 1992 in State of Bihar v. Madan Mohan Singh & Ors., had quashed
H
the earlier advertisement for filling up the vacancies of Additional District
Judges in the District Judicial Service of Bihar and directed the appellant State
to fill up the same through a fresh advertisement. In the mean time, it appears
-
..
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 309
that as the High Court had not agreed to the suggestion of the State authorities A
to have reservation in the posts of District Judges for reserved category of
candidates and had insisted on proceeding with the recruitment as per the 1951
Rules, styled as the Bihar Superior Judicial Service Rules, 1951, which were
framed by the Governor of Bihar in exercise of the powers conferred by the
proviso to Article 309 read with Article 233 of the Constitution of India and
B
which Rules did not provide for any such reservation, the Governor of Bihar
issued the impugned Ordinance which subsequently became the impugned Act
by which the scheme of 50% reservations for reserved category of candidates
was directed to be applied while effecting direct recruitment to the posts
concerned. On 16th November, 1993, the appellant State requested the High
Court to effect recruitment to the vacancies in the cadre of District Judges on c
the basis of the reservation provided by the Ordinance which subsequently was
followed by the Act. By its communication dated 16th December, 1993, the
High Court of Patna insisted that recruitment to District Judiciary can be made
on the basis of 1951 Rules only. By a communication dated 5th April, 1994,
· the High Court informed the authorities concerned that no reservation of posts D
in the district cadre could be implemented and while making appointments
from the members of the Bar for direct recruitment, preference may be given
to the Scheduled Caste (for short 'SC') and Scheduled Tribe (for short 'ST')
candidates who are of equal merit with general category candidates. On 7th
April, 1994, the High Court intimated that there are 54 vacancies in the district
E
cadre which had to be filled up. The State Government, however, issued the
impugned advertisement of 16th June, 1994 by which SO% of the available
vacancies of District Judges were sought to be filled in from reserved category
of candidates and the remaining 50% posts thereof, i.e. 27, were to be filled
in by the open category candidates. It is this advertisement which was
challenged by the writ petitioners before the High Court. The High Court, by F
the impugned judgmept as noted earlier, has allowed the writ petition and
quashed the condition of reservation sought to be imposed by the impugned
advertisement.
Facts leading to Civil Appeal arising out of S.l.P.(C) No.16476 of 1993: G
By a proposal dated 30th January, 1991, the appellant-State consulted
the Bihar Public Service Commission regarding making provision for reservation
of posts in the Subordinate Judicial Service for resel"ved category of candidates.
The said proposal of the appellant-State was also placed for consideration of
the High Court but it was not accepted by the High Court by its communication H
310 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A dated 16th April, 1991, and that resulted in the impugned Ordinances, being
33 and 34 of 1991, which were followed by the impugned Act. The original
writ petitioners, who had already appeared at the competitive examination in
April, 1991 moved the High Court challenging the Ordinances and the latter
Act insofar as the scheme of 50% reservation of posts for direct recruitment
at grass root level of the State Judiciary was concerned. As noted earlier, the
B
aforesaid writ petition was allowed and relief was granted against the
appellants.
Rival contentions:
Dr. Dhavan, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant-State in
c Civil Appeal No.9072 of 1996, at the outset, contended that the impugned Act,
especially Section 4 thereof, is wrongly held by the High Court to be not
applicable to Judicial Services of the State. He contended that Judicial Services
especially, the Subordinate Judiciary comprising of district cadre and the cadre
.of Judges below the same were part and parcel of the Public Services of the
D State and, therefore, on the express terminology of the Act, Section 4 thereof,
became directly applicable to the recruitment of judicial officers both at the
district level as well as at the level of Subordinate Judiciary below it.
Alternatively, it was submitted that even assuming that the Act did not apply
on its own language, even then, it has to be held that the State Legislature was
E perfectly competent to enact provisions regarding reservation of posts in
Judicial Services of the State in the light of Article 16(4) of the Constitution
of India read with the relevant entry 41 in list II of Seventh Schedule to the
Constitution. He also posed the moot question whether the State Legislature
has independent power to enact any provisions _regarding reservation in
connection with appointment in Judiciary when such reservation, after
F
consultation with the High Court, could not get reflected in the relevant Rules
framed by the Governor under Article 309 read with Articles 233 and 234 of
the Constitution of India. In support of these contentions, relevant Constitutional
scheme was pressed in service. It was submitted that on a correct interpretation
of Article 309 the State Legislature as well as the Governor had ample
G jurisdiction to make provision for reservation in connection with Judicial
Service. Under the said Article, paramount power in this connection has been
vested in the State Legislature. He then referred to Articles 233 and 234 in
connection with Subordinate Judiciary and placed emphasis on Article 236 (b)
defining the expression "Judicial Service" as a service consisting exclusively
H of persons intended to fill the post of District Judge and other civil judicial
\
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 311
posts _inferior to the post of District Judge. He submitted that all that the A
opening part of Article 309 provides is to the effect that, while making
appointments to the cadre of District Judges or Subordinate Judges of lower
judiciary, as per Articles 233 and 234, consultation of the Governor with the
High Court is necessary. That apart, from these latter two Articles there is no
\ fetter on the power of the State Legislature to enact appropriate legislation in B
this connection under Article 309. He invited our attention to List II entry 41
of the Seventh Schedule for submitting that the State Legislature is competent
to make enactment in connection with appointments to Public Services and
'Judicial Service' is also a Public Service of the State. He further submitted
that the first part of Article 309 does not attract Article 234 so far as State
Legislature's paramount powers are concerned. c
Dr. Dhavan, relying upon the second part of Article 235, stated that
despite the full control of District Judiciary being vested in the High Court,
the right of appeal and"other conditions of service of Members of Subordinate
Judiciary as laid down by any competent law which would include legislative D
enactment as well as statutory rules are clearly saved pro tanto at least at the
second level, after appointments are made at the grass-root level in the
Judiciary and when the further question arises as to how the conditions of
service of such appointees are to be governed and controlled. Dr. Dhavan,
therefore, submitted that it is not as if the power of State Legislature to enact
appropriate provisions is totally excluded because of the enactment of Articles
E
233 to 235. Dr. Dhavan tried to highlight his submission by contending that
if the power of State Legislature to enact appropriate provisions regarding
appointments of Members of Subordinate Judiciary is held totally excluded by
Article 234, and to that extent Article 309 be held out of picture, then the
) F
following anomalies may arise in the working of these provisions.
(I) 'Judicial Service' as defined by Article 236(b) will get truncated in
its operation.
(2) The second anomaly pointed out by Dr. Dhavan was that power to
legislate, which must be given full effect. would get excluded without there G
being any express exclusion.
(3) The third anomaly pointed out by Dr. Dhavan was that though under
the Constitution, the scheme of separation of power is devised to separate the
Executive from the Judiciary, this scheme does not extend to oust the H
312 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A legislative power. If it is held that Article 234 ousts the legislative power for
making suitable enactments· on the topic covered ther~in then, to that extent,
an anomalous position would arise not contemplated by the Constitutional
scheme.
Dr. Dhavan next contended that on the express language of Article 234,
B only the rule making power of the Governor is fettered but not the legislative
power of the State.
Dr. Dhavan next submitted that if legislative interference in the process
of selection and appointment of direct recruits to Subordinate Judiciary as per
c Article 234 is completely ruled out that being the first level or the grass-root
level of the Subordinate Judiciary then another patently anomalous situation
would arise. Tha_t under Article 235 second part such statutory provisions to
be enacted by competent Legislature are clearly contemplated so far as
conditions of service of judicial officers are .concerned and then when we turn
to the apex level, namely, of the districtcadre manned by District Judges there
D is no express ouster of legislative interference under Article 233. Thus the
plenary power of the Legislature would be operative qua the highest posts in
the hierarchy of District Judiciary while for the grass-root level itwill be ruled
out. Dr. Dhavan then invited our attention to the decisions in M.M.Gupta &
Ors. etc. v. State of Jammu & Kashmir & .Ors., [1982] 3 SCC 412 paras 28
E to32 as well as in State of Kerala v. Smt. A. Lakshniikutty & Ors., [1986] 4
sec 632 at page 64 7 in para 22 to highlight the scope of the term
'consultation' which should be effective consu1*ation. He then invited our
attention to the impugned Act especially Sections 2 (c), 4 and 16 having
overriding effect over all other rules in force and submitted that such
p establishments under the 'State' would include even Judiciary as laid down by
the definition of Section 2(n). He, however, fairly conceded that neither in the
Rules of 1951 regarding appointments to district cadre as per A1ticle 233 nor
under the Rules of 1955 for recruitment to cadre of Subordinate Judiciary as
laid down by Article 234, there is any provision for 50% reservation of posts
and, therefore, he submitted that this entire case depends upon competence of
G the impugned Act which had to be enacted because there was a stalemate on
this subject as the High Court did not agree with the suggestion of the
Governor for suitable amendment to these Rules under Articles 233 and 234.
He ultimately submitted, that the reasoning of the High Court that the Act does
not cover 'Judicial Service' is patently erroneous and that this Act is not bound
H by any fetters of Articles 233 or 234 and is an exercise of paramount
.... STATE v. BALMUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 313
legislative power confelTed on the State authorities under Article 309 first part
read with entry 41 List II of Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. He,
A
therefore, submitted that the Act must be permitted to have full play.
In support of his contentions Dr. Dhavan placed strong reliance on the
decision of a Constitution Bench of this Court in the case of B.S. Ylzdav & Ors.
v. State of Haryana & Ors. ·etc., [1981] 1 SCR 1024. Dr. Dhavan, therefore, B
submitted that the impugned judgment of the High Court, being contrary to
the Constitutional scheme, requires to be set aside.
Shri Dwivedi, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant-State
in the companion Civil Appeal submitted that though the High Court in para c
9 at page 11 has referred to a three-Judge Bench judgment of this Court in All
India Judges' Association & Ors. etc. v. Union of India & Ors. etc., AIR
(1993) SC 2493, giving special status to judicial officers, the said observations
cannot whittle down the power of reservation available to the State authorities
under Article 16 (4) and that question was not examined in the said case as
it did not fall for consideration. He submitted that a conjoint reading of D
Sections 2(c) and 2(n) clearly shows that the Act is meant to apply also to
'Judicial Service' of the Bihar State. He next contended that question of
reservation of posts in a cadre which is already established ?Y the State
authorities in exercise of. their powers under Article 309 is not covered by
Articles 233 to 235. That question is covered by Article 16 sub-article (4) and E
none of the aforesaid provisions curtail that enabling power available to the
State authorities. In this connection, he also invited our attention to entry l lA
of List III of Seventh Schedule to the Constitution dealing with constitution
and organisation of all courts, except the Supreme Court and the High Courts,
and submitted that scheme of reservation of posts would remain sustained F
under these provisions and also as per the Legislature enacted under entry 41
of List II. He submitted that once the court is constituted, it would comprise
of all cadres of judicial officers to man the courts and the formation of cadres
and constitution of the courts also permitted provisions for creation of reserved
posts to comprise in such cadres. This exercise has nothing to do with the
question of appointment on available vacancies in posts borne on established G
cadres in Judicial Service. According to Shri Dwivedi, the establishment of
cadres and creation of posts in the cadres is a stage prior to the one
contemplated by Articles 233 to 235 dealing with the subsequent question as
to how actual appointments of deserving candidates are to be effected to fill
up vacancies in already created posts in the concerned cadres. H
314 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A In short, the submission of Shri Dwivedi was that question of creation _,...
of posts to be filled up by reserved candidates or open category candidates
was in the domain of the State authorities especially, the Legislature which
can enact appropriate statutory provisions in discharge of constitutional
obligation under Article 16(4) read with entry 41 of List II of Seventh
B Schedule as well as entry 11 A of List III and once the general category posts
as. well as the reserved category posts are made available to the High Court.
for being filled in, thereafter, it will be for the High Court to proceed
according to Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution of India and in that
exercise the State Legislature will have no say. He, therefore, contended that
the High Court in the impugned judgment was patently in error in taking the
c view that statutory provision of reservation of posts for reserved category
candidates in the Subordinate Judiciary under its control was in any way ultra
vires or illegal. Shri Dwivedi, in support of his contentions, gave written
submissions whereby, amongst others, he invited our attention to Article 320
D
sub-article (4) which excludes reservation expressly from the powers and
functions of the Public Service Commission. He submitted that Article 234
••
requires the Governor for framing rules to consult the High Court as well
as the Public Service Commission and when it cannot make any provision
regarding reservation under Article 16 sub-article (4), by analogy, consultation
of the High Court also under. the very same Article 234 would not permit
E the High Court to deal with Article 16 sub-article (4). In other words, question
of reservation is outside the ken of Article 234. Shri Dwivedi, also in support
of his contentions, placed reliance on various decisions of this Court to which
we will make a reference at an appropriate stage. Shri Dwivedi next
contended that even under the Bihar Judicial Service (Recruitment) Rules,
1955 (hereinafter referred to as the '1955 Rules') especially, Rules 19 & 20
F reservation of posts in lower judiciary is coritempla.ted; that these Rules are
made by the Governor in consultation with the High Court and the Public
\
Service Commission.
-
l
Shri Dwivedi next contended that, in any case, the High Court in the
G impugned judgment was not called upon to consider the further question
whether there cannot be any reservation to.the posts in district cadre and the
stand of the High Court that if candidates of equal merit are there, then
preference can be given to SC and ST candidates, was correct or not. That the
only question before the High Court was whether the impugned Act could
H validly apply to provision of reservation of posts in the District Judiciary. He,
I ~ :.. : ,r <STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH (S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] •'315
--- , therefore, submitted that the observations in para•24 of the im'pugnedjudgment,
in any case, are required to be set aside as redundant and bnca'lled'fot:i It
IA
was accordingly submitted by Shri Dwivedi that the appeal deserves to be
~ll~~ed. · .- · .- '''- ,;_ '
j1 1/ ~,,... ·-~~'I"
Lear11ed· counsel appearing fqr-the Intervenors in ·I.ANo!20;-'on"the
other hand;' tried to support the case of reservation for SC and-ST 'candidat'es
relying on Rule 20 of 1955 Rules so far as the recruitment to Stibordihate
Judiciary was concerned. Learned counsel for the intervenors in I.A. No. 10
repr~~endng Other Backward Class (for short 'OBC') c_andidates"adopted the
argume~ts of Dr. Dhavan a~d Shri Dwivedi i~ sum:iort of the -impiigned Act
I-"' --1' •f" I. , r • ~ ,r ,t'
I , . L '' - ··• • ;.-' '· -, "•
and the scheme .of reservat10n thereunder, Learned counsel appearing for the
thi'eivenors" as 'per I.A. No. ·11 tried to support r~:'~er~atio~ fo~ '§c''a~ci ST
~ I ··"' : : l. . - ! J.J . . J I ., .. J • ' / T· . / .
candidates under the Act and even dehors it. While intervenor in I.A:Nos.
- ' ,.,,,f;.d ~ • ~ ~ ","" '·~, 1;" I I Ji .~ 1 L.,1J ./j .•·-; /I.
4 and 9 representmg general category candidates supported the decision of
,.. '. ~ . ( / If. "· . . • • . ·' ' ' > 11 ' ~I
I -H j • ' . " I ' • ;. • ) t >. ,,' •
the
• ,f
High ,·
Court.
• .._,,. ,;;r ··r·. .
J
'' · The mairi reply to the contentions of learned coi.insel for the' appellaiits
emanated from learned senior counsel Shri ·Thakur appeating lfor the High
Court of Patna. He submitted, in the first instance, that the impugned Act is
not'.~ide •e'nough
r '. i1 '.,I
to apply to Judiciary. He tried to ·suppdrt ·tii"is'bont~ntion on
. . '' . . ' <f ·1jt ) 1-J·ri
the basis of reasoning which appealed to the Higti Court in 'the- impugned
.I , • •' . - . ,' ' , ~- ' 11 r ·-r - . i ~ .J ' t
judgment. He alternatively contended that Section 4 of the impugned Act, 1if
appff~ct 'tci ju'dicial officers, ;will ex facie become i~valid bein~ iepJgA'a~t 'fiie io
•' iJcfl .; . , .' ~ '1·l -,_i:~--(1 ·.. 1. ;,, 1
composite scheme of Articles 233 to 235. To highlight this alterri'ative
It, ..1J1 • - • • :J'. I .1_ Ii "'-> ' LL I . • •L'
contentlon, he ,contended as under :
... '" , · . :1.r .•i:;i·1· r-1r11_· ..·_
· - · I: Article 309 has no application· to Subordinate JutliCicH:'y.' ~lrlgets
-fp
excluded by the triology of Articles 233 to 235 whiCh represent' a cbmplete
·Code amongst themselves.'
•• 'I 1 ,, !. ;11 _,r: J,'':.t-' ,[ u~ I .fL ·"'
. 2. Once Article 309 is exch,ided, legislative p()w~~.._ und~r. ~ti~le ~,99
.. fir~t part also gets excluded qua the field covered qy .the afor,esaici tr,io.Jpgy' pf
the, Article§ .. r, _.,. , , r;_ ,L ~ ,, : • , " I 'G
~.·-·,,t ,_11.~·- . •i ,. ),,'.~i-l"'..t.. tr
3. These three Articles themselves are the only source of power to make
!.J . l . ,· l JI l ~- f. ' ~ r. . I , ' . · . ' t I ., , '
· rules_ or law as seen from second pal1 of Article 235 as well' as Articles-233
~ '1( . '""I 11 ~· , i, · '- "• ' i i· ' ' •JJ · , ,
and 234'. · " - ·'' '' .... · ' ·
I 'l ,( -. • t'' r,,·"i J,""' ::\ •!ti~ I
!Li Jl . 4.'Roles· made Linder Article 234 by the ·Govern<:fr afrer:f-OUowing the Pitt
316 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000) 2 S.C.R.
A procedure laid down thereunder would relate to "service' also as contemplated
by Article 233.
5. Second part of Article 235 only can permit suitable legislation by the
State authorities governing the conditions of service of already recruited
. judicial officers whether at the grass-root level or even at the apex level of the
B District Judiciary in exercise of its legislative power under Article 309 read
with entry 41 of List II of the Seventh Schedule.
In order to support his contentio11 that Article 309 does not apply to
recruitment to the Judicial Service, he invited our attention to Article 187
c dealing with Secretarial Staff of Legislature, Article 148 dealing with Service
regulations of the Comptroller & Auditor-General of India, Article 146 dealing
with Service under the Supreme Court, Article 229(2) dealing with Services
under the High Court and Article 324(5) dealing with Service regulations of
Election Commission and submitted that in all these Articles, special provisions
are made for enacting appropriate rules and even statutes covering the topics
D mentioned therein. But so far as Article 234 is concerned, it is not subject to
the law of Legislature as found in the aforesaid other Articles.
To a pointed query by us Shri Thakur, learned senior counsel for the
High Court of Patna, after taking appropriate instructions, submitted that in
E principle the High Court of Patna has already accepted reservation of 14%
posts for SC and 10% for ST candidates for being recruited at the lowest level
of the District Judiciary. Shri Thakur also placed reliance on decisions of the
various High Courts and of this Court to which we will make a reference at
an appropriate stage. Shri Thakur, further submitted that Section 4 of the
impugned Act, in express terms, seeks to regulate appointments to the existing
F
posts in the cadre of District Judiciary as well as in the Subordinate Judiciary.
To that extent it directly impinges upon the provisions of Articles 233 and 234,
which amongst them, represent a complete Code in connection with appointment
to Subordinate Judiciary. He further submitted that it is fallacious to contend
that reserving posts for a given class of candidates would be at a stage prior
G to the question of recruitment and appointment as contemplated by Articles
233 and 234 of the Constitution. That once posts are already created for being
-
filled up in a given cadre the authority of the State in this connection would
come to an end. For creation of such cadres and sanction of posts appropriate
legislation can be enacted or even the Governor, in exercise of his independent
H power under Article 309, can promulgate Rules. But once posts are already
STATE v. BALMUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 317
created in a Judicial Cadre and when the question of filling up vacancies in A
the existing sanctioned posts in district cadre or subordinate cadre arises, direct
recruitment has to be done on the recommendation of the High Court as laid
down by Article 233 (2) and recruitment in the vacancies in the cadre of
Subordinate Judiciary has to be done as per the 1955 Rules framed by the
Governor in consultation with the High Court under Article 234 and in no B
other manner. That for regulating this process there is no question of any
legislative interference by exercise of any paramount power. He, therefore,
contended that the view of the High Court in the impugned judgment is well
sustained on the Constitutional scheme and calls for no interference. He, ·
however, fairly submitted that so far as the 1955 Rules are concerned, by the
consent of the High Court the rule making power has been exercised by the c
Governor permitting the reservation for SC and ST candidates in recruitment
governed by .the said Rules and which recruitment has to be resorted to for
filling up vacancies in posts of Subordinate Judges and the Munsiffs. He also
fairly stated that the High Court is consistently following the provision of
..... reservation for direct recruitment in these categories of posts to the extent of D
14% being reserved for SC and 10% being reserved for ST candidates but
nothing more. So far as the impugned Act is concerned, it goes far beyond this
permitted scheme of reservation under the relevant Rules of 1955 and seeks
to impose a blanket reservation of 50% for SC, ST and OBC candidates. That
such a statutory provision flies in the face of Articles 233 and 234 of the E
Constitution of India and cannot be sustained and accordingly rightly been·
voided by the High Court.
Points for determination:
In the light of the aforesaid rival contentions, the following points arise
F
for our determination:
1. Whether the impugned Act of 1991 on its express language covers
'Judicial Service' of the Bihar State; - - - - / ·/, .
I I I;
. ~- If the ~nswer to point no: 1 is in ~e affirmative, whether the G/
prov1s1ons of the impugned Act, especially, Sect10n 4 thereof in its application
to Subordinate Judiciary would be ultra vires Articles 233 and 234 of the
Constitution of India and hence cannot be sustained;
3. In the alternative, whether the aforesaid provisions of the Act are
required to be read down by holding that Section 4 of the Act will not apply H
31'81 11 5lf.C1'JSUPREMECOJJRT1REPORTS 1 d .;r:f[2000]2S.C.R.
/lt., to rdir.ect ;J.ecru!tm~ot !to ·1the.tposts i comprised in .. the iBihar.1Superior: ,Judicial:,
S,erYi¢.e,as·specified.;indhe."Schedulei:to1the,Bihar1Superior.iJudici~.h$erviceJ
R!iles;-119511<\S tW~ell as..rotBihariJudicialiService governed by the.-.BiharJudiciab
ServiceL(Recruitment)11Rules,,J1955;.comprising·,of the posts.,of:Subordinate·:i
Judge.~jandrMunsiffs1under the: Disp-ict :Jt.Jcli~im; 1and1 r1L! , •tu l ·11Hn, L, 1!1di.. t
Ba on ni I.int. P': '.il:.1J1I 1,t;r,: Li.;1; ! ii~·il ·•·; ,t;," rJ1;;ts!lu1·11.~ :11 v1n-::i1·1d
'..J. . .4. What fi..nal order? . -
~flt to 1:•JtJC,.jiJ !1!1 ,, «:•.•'' •' ,. ', ",' 0
·11:t.• t:'.·;t ·1·1\ 'Lli r T,;:,u;;c I'.Jrllo
BefOVe w~ 1de:J1' w'1dl'the atoresrud 'points for deterrllination; it wiil He rieces~ary': 1
td [keep !iiflvieW-'ttte'folevfuff pi:bvisions rof the rConSiiii:itioi:t I which'b~vki direct',
inipact"oiPth~1 ·resoiutionbf 'the coP,troversy projected 'oy 'the'se 1point's'.111 ' r, !t.L•.
·""irtJ ·eJ ...f;p·T~~·;n<u · 'b .... ~,lt/.~ ("'-' ·;..' t-'" tc~. 1 i ·J;1u;1ri'o1 ~h1L t ···, ·1Ji~1'.
CJ DJ.ns(ifu(io1~ql._Scheme: , . 1 ,, ,Jji! I
~n··;r·riqJ\'/.~ .111 r"Jh_t)j! ,,,., l'i i ~ •/. ·· · 1'· , • ~ t; '.'.'tT.J'l lfll!~· . . ·1 ··)
.. Part XIV deals with Services under the Union and the States. Chapter
1(1i <1: 1.-. +h..1r:.d •.:: ~-··d
11' . . .' .· - , , . .it • -1 • , ~ ·~n! /11 J.·ir~-, '}(}·,
I comprising of A.rtk~es 308 to 313 deals with Services, while Chapter IL,
';;.>,( '.1 ,...I 1,-~'1·lt ', . <- 1
'r ·,r
• · • I' ,f . ; t ' _l· • 1. -'~ :!
covering Articles 315 to 323 deals with Public Service Commissions. Article
1 l (·)r 1 :• -r! ·.11 ft.'.1
<-' ,• ' .• • ·· ·.) · j/t'l·l..~
' •
1 '.: •, ,;. 1.:"t'"i 1 "
308 aefines the expression 'State', which shall not include the State of Jammu
DI ti· 1[ ·"1". ·,;JI 1. 1<'1'•
1 1 -',... 1\ ' "•I. 1t '. ~. • ,·,,' '.; }{J~ i~_fl' f./.·:,...',;"J
1
& Kashmir. However;. the refevant Article:: fpr our present purpose is Art1c.le .
3Q9lwihcli ~gads ifs1 un'dkr:. . ' ' ~·J' - ; . '.' '.l ·,. ·~' ,,,
,...idJ!.Jn1.1t..Jrl·11.• •111·~·. ,,_,,.1 ~~n,_-,,.' ·~. ' 1 .t ·1 .. ,~:,11 1 1 .; 1
,,J • ,, t:,;:309.' Recruitineht and conditions of service of personS''servirig1the ,
1Lr'T ~«UniOn •.or.alState· ,; .:,,,;n,.-,,.,,!'·' .,.
E-t 1
'>i ! I '' 'su'bjktt t6 'the 'provis'ions of this"Con'stituHon', Acts' of tH~ 1appropn~te'"
' 1 .:-d
/ 'Legisl~fo'iihriay regulate the'
recri.litment, aria' cbridhi6iis%f J serviCe
of persons appointed, to public services and post~ i.n ·donriictibn ·vJitH'
the affairs of the Union or of any State: 1l\ )·, ) •• , . ·, 1 1 \1•
J'' •. i..
1 ; llVI Pr~?V_i.cJ.ed.
tha,t it .. ~p~ll. be comp~t~;it ,for the 1 fr~~~4~~v~r: such
Ff person as he may direct in the case of ser,yi,~~s 1 ~P.~J·~?~~s., it?-it
connection with the affairs of the Union, and for the Governor of
, t, , ,, a"State1or sucp person as he may direct.in.·\he case of.services and
posts in connection with the affairs oLthe.iState, to 1make, rules
regulating the recruitment, and the conditions of' service of persons
., ,. appointeci,Hfo' ·such services and posts until 'provision ih ~ thkt behalf
'· · is:made by odinder'ari ·Act of the appropriate Legislature imder this'
I . . article,. and, arty rules SO ' made shall . have effect I' subject '.to the .
Provisions of ~y such Act.'' '' · i 1. · · -· ,
; [J; l A' mere look at this Article! shows that it is expressly: ·made subject to
HI otheritptovisions .Of the· Constiuniort and subject to that; an appropriate·
1
' ''STATE v. BALMUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR,J.] 319
or
Legislature Governor can regulate the recruitment and conditions of service
1
A
of persons appointed to publiC services and posts in connection with 'the affairs
of die Staie eonceined. Proviso to that Articl~ permits the GOvern0r of the
State'to'fillup:the·gap; ifrthere is no such statutory provision goverfiing the
aforesaid topics: Fbr that purpose, the Governor may make rules regufatiilg tne
recfoitffi'ent ~nd the conditions' of service of perfons·appointea to such'servkes If
antl::posfs:until 1'provision' in 'tha.t- behalfis made by or under ·im .Ket' 'of the
dfoipetent Legislature ·which may intervene and enact approprikt'e ~ st~tutory
provisions for the same. The maimer of recruitment to the services contemplated·
by Article 309 is provided by Chapter II dealing with the Public Service
Coril.iriissions. Article 320 deals with Functions of Public Service Comnif~sions
enjoihingthem to c'onduct examinations for appointment to the services of1he C
Union artd the servkes of the State respectively. That naturally has a direct
linkage with 'the types 'of Services contemplated by' Article 309.
• • l.J,f ~· ' jJ ' J '' '
Special.Scheme.for Judic,ial Services in Part VI (Chapters V & VI):
j j 'J • ~ ' "' , ,1 ' ' ' ,• fi . '
. , . It i!' pertinent to note that independently of general provisions of Article
t .~ ~ ~. i • • . i' .. • ' , ( ' '
399,_ ,the ~onstitution has made special provisions for certain Services. Even
if they i:nay be part of public services, still separate Constitutional schemes are
! IJ t• . ,
I . '., ,,.. i..
I • ' . -~
envisaged for regulating recrmtment and conditions of services of officers
~
' ,J I / I 1 , , _. .
1 J• r _ . •
governed by such Services. Let us have a glance at such specially dealt with
Ser~ices.' ·1 ' • '
.. ~ ' E
l Part VI of the Constitution dealing with the States, separately deals with
the executive ·in Chapter II; the State Legislature under Chapter III and
thereafter Chapter IV dealing with the Legislative Powers of the Governor and
then follows Chapter V dealing with the High Courts in the States and Chapter
VI .dealing· with the Subordinate. Courts. It is in Chapter VI dealing with the:
Subordinate Courts that we find the provision made for appointment of District
Judges under Article 233, recruitment of persons other than the District Judges
to the Judicial Services under Article 234 and also control of the High Court.
over the Subordinate Courts as laid down by Article 235. Article 236 deals
with the lOpic of 'Interpretation' and amongst others, defines by sub-article (b)
the expression ·~udicial service" to mean "a service consisting exclusively of
G
persons intended to fill the post of District Judge and other civil judicial posts
inferior t~ the post of District Judge." It becomes, therefore, obvious that the
frarriers of the Constitution separately dealt with 'Judicial Services' of the
State and made exclusive provisions regarding recruitment to the posts of
District Judges and other civil judicial posts inferior to the posts of the District
,
320 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A Judge. Thus these provisions found entirely in a different part of the Constitution
stand on their own and quite independent of part XIV dealing with Services
in general under the 'State'. Therefore, Article 309, which, on its express
terms, is made subject to other provisions of the Constitution, does get
circumscribed to the extent to which from its general field of operation is
carved out a separate and exclusive field for operation by the relevant
B
provisions of Articles dealing with Subordinate Judiciary as found in Chapter
VI of Part VI of the Constitution to which we will make further reference at >
an appropriate stage in the later part of this judgment.
We may also refer at this stage to Article 146 dealing with Services
C under the Supreme Court which lays down the procedure for· appointment of
officers and servants of the Supreme Court and provides under sub-article (2)
thereof that "subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament, the
conditions of service of officers and servants of the Supreme Court shall be
such as may be prescribed by rules made by the Chief Justice of India or by
D some other Judge or officer of the court authorised by the Chief Justice of
India to make rules for the purpose." Similar provision is found in Article 229
· .. ~·:
dealing with recruitment of officers and servants and the expenses of the High
Courts. Sub-article (2) thereof lays down the rule making power of the Chief
1ustice of the Court concerned or by some other Judge or officer of the Court
authorised by the Chief Justice to make rules for the purpose subject to the
E provisions of any law made by any Legislature of the State. Article 148 deals
with Comptroller and Auditor-General of India. Sub-article (5) thereof deals
with rule making power of the President regarding the conditions of service
of persons serving in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department and the
administrative powers ofthe Comptroller and Auditor-General subject to any
F provisions of the Constitution or any law made by the Parliament in this
connection. Article 98 deals with Secretariat- of Parliament. Sub-article (3)
thereof provides "Until provision is made by Parliament under clause (2), the
President may, after consultation with the Speaker of the House of the People
or the Chairman of the Council of States, as the case may be, make rules
G regulating the recruitment, and the conditions of service of persons appointed,
to the secretarial staff of the House of the People or the Council of States, and
any rules so made shall have effect subject to the provisions of any law made
under the said clause." Similarly, for Secretariat of State Legislatur1 we find
Article 187 which deals with separate secretariat staff for the House or each
House of the Legislature of a State. Sub-article (3) thereof runs parallel to sub-
H
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 321
article (3) of Article 98 and provides that "until provision is made by the IA
..,. Legislature of the State under clause (2), the Governor may, after consultation
with the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly or the Chairman of the
Legislative Council, as the case may be, make rules regulating the recruitment,
and the conditions of service of persons appointed, to the secretarial staff of
the Assembly or the Council and any rules so made shall have effect subject B
to the provisions of any law made under the said clause." Article 324 is found
in Part XV which deals with Superintendence, direction and control of
elections to be vested in an Election Commission. Sub-article (5) thereof
provides that "subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament" the
conditions of service and tenure of office of the Election Commissioners and
the Regional Commissioners shall be such as the President may by rule c
determine."
The aforesaid Constitutional provisions clearly indicate that independently
of general provisions regarding Services as mentioned in Part XIV, different
types of Services contemplated by the Constitution in other parts have their D
own procedural schemes for recruitment ;md regulation of conditions of these
Services and therefore, Article 309 found in Part XIV necessarily will have
to be read subject to these special provisions regarding recruitment and
conditions of servi~es. of diverse types governed by the relevant differeP'
Constitutional provisions as indicated hereinabove.
E
The other Article to which reference is to be made is Article 16 sub-
article (4) of the Constitution which enables the State to make provision for
reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of
citizens which, in its opinion, is not adequately represented in the services
under the State. This provision has to be read with Article 335 which deals F
with Claims of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to services and posts
and lays down that "the claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and
the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the
maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to
services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State."
Though on the express language of Article 335, the Other Backward Classes
G
are not included, it is now well settled by a decision of the nine-member
Constitution Bench of this Court in the case of Indra Sawhney & Ors. v. Union
of India & Ors., [ 1992 Suppl. (3) SCC 217] that even the Other Backward
-~ Classes are also covered by the thrust of Article 335 of the Constitution of
India and that view is reaffirmed and is followed by a recent decision of the H
322.>. . t .5!1 c •SUPREME COURT REPORTS . · J 1[2000] 2 S.C.R.
A'\thr~-~udg~JJench.of;t.his<fourt in IAs.· NQs. 35-36 jn WP (C) No. 930:of 1990c
eto.,in I&J,rcfS«whney,N; lJniQfl.of;India & Ors. reported in [2000] ,I SCCll~8,J
w!w,rei11 Jaganµadha:;Rao,,J.-:rspeaking 011 behalfj of :the, three-Judge,Benchv
higbligbted ·Jhis; ver,YLPR~ition·. j Thus;:,even if under Article·,! 6( 4) the1.Sfa_te J
pr()pQses t9 1pr:oxi<Je reser:vation1onit~e,grQund of inadequate representation bf<:
Bg cer:t~in1.\>ackward·:classes· in1:Services,';if ~t is considered by; the ,appropriatef1
all.thPri.tY 1 that :sucb I reservation'. tWill tadversely affect the efficiency, of'., the iJ
adrninistratiol11·ibe11 exercise .under, Article) o( 4) is not permissible. This :is the1;
C()nstitutional:JintitatioR' on,the.exer:ciserof the enablingJpower of reservation·,
un<:ter ~Articleul6(4 hAs rwe csh~U presently show, question', whether "im.theq
Sob,Qrdinate,J u.d:iciary1t¢OYeted rby. ..Artides '233 _and .. 234 .jf reservation .;is J
C) prs>vi<led, t~en the~efficiency of.the judicial;adtninistration•will be affected, isL
a matter within the exclusive purview of the High Court which shall .have·tnl
be consulted. Such consultation is a Constitutional obligation before any Rules
are1 'fuade-"fo~'fosetVation'. 1 : :!'.., " .,. , •1L ·I
1
•• 11 • I
J l"" / ~, '
I~. i Il , .5
,;,,r1:B.efore Par!ing,with1the resume of relevant Constitutional provisions,.we1•
D:1
m(.\..y)~ls9.i:.efer;to,A,r.t~cle1~0.i.,\Y.hich lays,down,the Directiye P.rinc.iples of:~tate'1
Pql_icy ,that Jhe. ,~ta,te 1 spaH _tgke ,,steps;. to i separate .the. Judiciary,, from, i the (
e~~~µt!x~,i.1;i,tJ:ie,pupHf-1s.e_1yices.ofthe.S~ate,. , ,,, ,,,,.:.,.ii,:. ,rJ 1.i
·;~·-·;11'; ·.L~r · ,f A•, tr~ f,r_..fl~'.1'· '~. 11 ,".: -', ( •• tli,. ~ .! 1 11;.L•r,.,·.
Legislative powers under Ar,tU;les .~45;1 ~.4.6. .ff.re su"f?ject to Qther prov_isiqns, ,
Et including Articles 233, 234 and 235:
,,; .·' ... '. ·., , . ./-. , I
"" 'Weomay alsoirefer.to <Part XI;of.the constitution;-especia'lly· Cllapter: I 1
1
dealing.withLegislati".e Relations laying down the Distribution of Legislative.•
Powers. Article :245 deals. with 'Extent. of< Laws made1by Parliamenttand byi ·:
FI the Legislatures of States'. Sub-article ( 1).thereof provides ·that "Subjectfto the.
provisions.of.this ConstitOtion,.Parliament may make .laws for the whole :ou
any,partofthe.tertitory of Jn di a, and the Legislature of a State may make _laws
fori:the. whole oi;. any part• of .the State:"1·. Thus, the. legislati.ve powers:.of11
Parliamen~ and the Legislature of the State are expressly made subject to other·,
provi~ions of the Constitution. Similarly, Article 246 laying down the category,
G. of sµbjcct~matter .of laws made by Parliament and by the Legi~latures of States
enum~rated in Lists I, II and III of the Seventh Schedule will als_o ha ye to be,
read subject to Article .245. Meaning thereby, if other provi~ions of.:the ,
Cons~itu~ion cut down or excll!<:Ie the Legis!ative P.owers of Parliament or St<lte
Legisl.~ture qua given topics, then those othei:,provisions have to be given their
full play and effect.
;,. l (
STATE v. BALfyiUKUND.SAH [S,B.~AJMUDAR, J.] 323.
A.
d Cl-
, it , , , , J n , , - ..... •• i.J ' ·, · 1 • i · L 1 ·~ •~ :J., ~"' ~~ • L 11 I ";,...t ''
.,, . So far as recruitnien(to Distri'Ct and Stibordiriate Judiciary is concerned, '
W~ have the~efd~e, .~~' t,Urll, tO (6~ twin Articles fouri&,_ih C~~~~~f, yr'~~ ~~'I' fart'
dealing with '"Subordinate Courts". The relevant two articles read as un.der : .
' ;~_.,, .... , j I,_,_ .J',r •'.~ ...-· •• ' I • • H 11·· ,,. ,- .n I(" • '.,: r;• .... ~ ... ·..,1
··,. i · ' . 'l233Y.ppointment ofludges:·::(l)' Appointment of persons to be,''and ; BJ
.,the posting:and'promotion of,.· district judges iii 'any ·state'shall' be'.
made by the·Governot of.the State in consultation withifheHigli'Court~
r ·,; exereising jurisdiction in relation to suclrState. ' · · · '"" i" ·
! ~Ji •: f ' I
(2) A person not already. in the service. of the: Union. or of the State,.
shall only be eligible_to be appointed a district judge,if he·has been, C:
for not less than seven years an advocate or a pleader and is
recommended b'y the· High Court for appointment.
234. Re~ruit,m11nt of persons other than district judges to the judicial
·service: Appointmynts of persons other than district judges to the
judicial .~ervice of a St~te shall be made by the Govenwr qfthe State
in. accordance with rules mat/,.e by him inJhat beha(f after consul·
fl l·
tation with the State Public. Service Commission and with the High.
J • '- 'l. - •
• ~
Court. exercising jurisdiction in relation to such State.','
.,ii. ;1 • ~' • ' ! . . • • • . . '
(Emp~a~~~ ~upplied) E·
Article 233 dealing with appointment of District Judges, on its own express ,
terminology projects a complete scheme regarding the appo.intment 'of persons
to District Jlldiciary as District Judges. In the present appeals, are'·. we
concerned with direct recruitment to the cadre of District Judges and. hence\
sub-article (2) of Articles 233 becomes relevant. Apart from laying down the p.,
eligibility criterion for candidates to be appointed from the Bar as direct
District Judges the said provision is forther hedged by the condition that only .
those, recommended by the High Court for such appointment could be
appointed by the Governor of the State. Similarly, for recruitment of judicial
officers other than District Judges to the Judicial Service at lower level,
G
complete scheme is provided by Article 234 wherein the Governor of the State
can make su.ch appointments in accordance with the rules framed,.by him after
CO!JSUlting with the State Public Service Commission and with the,High Court
exercising jurisdiction _in relation to such State. So far as the Public .Service
Coinmission is conc~rned, as seen from Article 320, the procedure for
recruitment toJIthe advertised posts to be ..followed by it is earmarked
I · ·
therein. H·
324 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A But the role of the Public Service Commission springs into action after the
posts in a cadre are required to be fillt:d in by direct recruitment and for that
purpose due intimation is given to the Commission by the State authorities.
They have obviously to act in consultation with the High Court so far as
recruitment to posts in Subordinate Judiciary is concerned. Of course, it will
be for the High Court to decide how many vacancies in the cadre of District
B
Judges and Subordinate Judges are required to be filled in by direct recruitment
so far as the District Judiciary is concerned and necessarily only by direct
recruitment so far as Subordinate Judiciary is concerned. This prime role of
the High Court becomes clearly discernible from Article 235 which deals with
the control of the High Court over the Subordinate Judiciary and also of
C Subordinate Courts. The said Article provides as under:
"235. Control over subordinate courts : The control over district
courts and courts subordinate thereto including the posting and
promotion of, and the grant of leave to, persons belonging to the
judicial service of a State and holding any post inferi~r to the post
D of district judge shall be vested in the High Court, but nothing in this
article shall be construed as taking away from any such person any
right of appeal which he may have under the law regulating the
conditions of his service or as authorising the High Court to deal with
him otherwise than in accordance with the conditions of his service
E prescribed under such law."
It is in the light of the aforesaid relevant scheme of the Constitution that we
now proceed to tackle the main controversy posed for our consideration. r'
Point No.I:
F
So far as this point is concerned, it is strictly not necessary for us to
go into the reason or the cause which led the appellant-State to resort to the
exercise of legislative power for enacting the impugned Act. The question
is whether the Act, as enacted, by its express language, can apply to 'judicial
service' of the State or not. When we tum to this Act, we find that ,it is
G enacted to provide for adequate representation of SC, ST and OBC candidates
in Posts and Services under the State. The 'State' is defined by Section 2(n)
to include "the Government, the Legislature and the Judiciary of the State
of Bihar and all local or other authorities within the State or under the control
of the State Government." Consequently, it cannot be said that the Act, as
H framed, did not seek to cover the Judiciary of the State of Bihar. The main
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 325
provision of the Act, which is on the anvil of controversy, is Section 4 which A
reads as under :
"4. Reservation for direct recruitment - All appointments to services
and posts in an establishment which are to be filled by direct
recruitment shall be regulated in the following manner, namely :-
B
(1) The available vacancies shall be filled up -
(a) from open merit category 50%
(b) from reserved category 50%
(2) The vacancies from different categories of reserved
candidates from amongst the 50% reserved category shall, C
subject to other provisions of this Act, be as follows :-
(a) Scheduled Castes 14%
(b) Scheduled Tribes 10%
(c) Extremely Backward Class 12%
(d) Backward Class 8%
D
(e) Economically Backward Woman .. 3%
(f) Economically Backward 3%
Total 50%
E
Provided that the State Government may, by notification in the official
Gazette, fix different percentage for different districts in accordance
with the percentage of population of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled
Tribes and Other Backward Classes in such districts:
Provided further that in case of promotion, reservation shall be made F
only for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes in the same proportion
as provided in this section.
(3) A reserved category candidate who is selected on the basis of
his merit shall be counted against 50% vacancies of open merit
G
category and not against the reserved category vacancies.
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained to the contrary in this Act
or in any other law or rules for the time being in force, or in
any judgment or decree of the Court, the provision of sub-
section (3) shall apply to all such cases in which all formalities H
llA rt ;id 11 I- noit:i'..i2o:f selectioiiHha:V-e :been '.cbriipletid' 1 Befor~ 1 til~ 1 i'st 'No~em6er
1990, but the appointment letters have not beeh"issued'.' 1 ·,~
-:rJrn·,,: 111 5)'1 ')(1'fH~ «/J~db~ies .. r:e~~~~~Js!~/'th\e"s;61i~<l~·i~J"c~st~~ischeduled
1
Jiflrli {d t:.il:JI '.J'1 oJ 'Ilj, n·;1r: 11 J1hlf!J1111d1.Jr:1 ni; ti! <J1.1111 lmi.
Tribes ana Other Backward Classes shall not. be filled up by
· 1b1ru n 1"Jf!ll£lfl "fHW<1i1.1 )f1J ill v;Ji,11J 2'il ':.Iii 111.11-. 1u·,w:1; .-, ,,
1
· . ' candidates not belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes
and. qthep,1B.acJcwar~i,Cl~ss.<rs _e,.xceptras. otherwise !provided in
i'f)r this Act. «•:::.le, 1 r·.lf, :::iri., ,;i.:d t
.;_ior_ , !1 j~ ~Hi.., tf111J1·~1 inc ,1'1 1 '1
<§)·rr.C~); ~n. ~~~~ ,gf :!!Oni!l.\'.~\~~gi!Hy 1 9f,,§µjtab,\~.candidates from the
.l lh• 11. <.~t~~~~uJi:;d; ~l!~t~s .apd $.chyd""4lf':~ 1 ,ni!Jei;_ fQr1;apPQil)tment and
, J?H?!n9t,ien)n _:".:~can,c~euc::~!trYe~ lw 1tq~m, ,the,.Yi~.<::a.ncies shall
continue to b(! reserved for ~thr~e) r_e5wµjt,QJ.y1Jt ~~prs and if
; 'IJ l suitable candidates are not avcµ!~}?ly· <!YJt!1U!Wh~ t\lir,d year, the
vacancies shall be exsh...~n_g~f:i~~~.~.5n ,t~~f?rSF.~.equleg ,Castes and
Scheduled Tribes and th~ vacan,qi~~:.sciA}.l1~~J!?Y. e:itshange shall
co be ~eated as ry~e,p;'e,q, [q[ 1~9.t:c~~4~fl~~'f!'Jtf%.·~~~t~ particular
community who are acg.ffiMYdPPO,inte.9::ium,.,~1 1 l'
; , 0 ,. (b) In cast:.1.<?f;pon-availability of suitable candidates from the
extremely Backward Classes and Backward Classes the vacan-
cies so reserved shall continue to be reserved for them for three
l1;1:;i'tio '.1c!J nl nrrecru'itn1:entlyears 1 a:fidi:j1f.stliiabfoltanilioateslar~"ribt available
·,;1Il>l;1o:y,c tl' .-evenrin 1 1tM'1ih1rd· 1 year·:a1soPtheTvatlcitltie;~ stialPl5e filled by
~r;lub'.Jrl J?.' .- ·,11i;ekdhange 1>eiw'eeri 1 the·cafldia~teNro'm 1 tHerex'.tfeni.ely' Backward
.·anttimftcJ(wardroasses ·An<r:rllie{vaganci~Vsl:Nilr'e'd 'b'y Exchange
shall be treated as reserved for the candidates of that particular
(, m ·,rJ lli;rf; noo1;·1r,·a .n11'J.1m!IJHJ ti.i :-" ···; n1 Jf;r[t '!'..IQ1'11ll vjLr 101'-J
, 1' · · commU_nny Wuo are act1,1a11y appomteu.
wJi11oq1nc; '.11llh? '.)r(J fl! %'1d1iT 1,·,luL,d1c\1·;J?H / L'JlllL'.Jd J i11t ~lfl"
i; l'.J'..il ·' irlJ l;',lJfl ~b
'1 1 [l(
(c) In case of non-availaoi ity of suitable candidates for the
I JlrJ
;.111?B<i ~ffJ f{(j
vacancies reserved for the economically backward,women
VJJ'J!JJ'Jr. l.l (JlJ·N 'JJhlJll.)fJli:J flt)~".JJl.JJ U'.J' ,._Jt,Jt .t1 •L.
the
· . vacancies. .i;hall l?e filled first.1 by,., .the . candidates from the
Jtl~Jfll fl'.Jqr) 1t1 ~~l'.JffG:JJj,"/ .)\'JfJ('_ Jeflih~L UJJllUC"'.1 J~ 1 ~JI!", u!...1.11.1. t~·•
f;i'.;fUDt> / ~·~?{gWJ~·,9t~~~S,· Jp~!J~R~._fll6;S;~11_,qjflat~~l!2PJ the Scheduled
TriOes, then by the candidates from extremely backward class,
1,p. wlJ ni 11 i; 1 .RH5'A!,~P.rQY.::tJ!~L<;aH\tiq~(eli fro11!1backw.ard•class. The vacancies
Ill J(J • ::mot' n j g2i™l~,1in :me ~i;ans_a.ctiQO Sha}hbe1ttre~ted I aS <reserved for the
du~ 'Jo noi<:iv1~nq~Q,at~~;JOfJ that partic1.dat; community LWl\tnare actually ap-
nililLrn t<il l~i; rPJ?~nted, t'.Jr.ti.J rl)1~t llti 111 (:qqt. ~~ ... 11 .. 11, n1111:.i'.J~
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH (S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] . 327
. (d) If in any recruitment year, the number of candidates of .t A
.,,, ' Scheduled Castes/Scheduled. Tribes; extremely, Backward' and
,Backward Classes are less than the number ·of\1 acancies ·re-
served for them even after exchange formula the ·remaining
. backlog vacancies may ·be filled by general candidates after
· dereserving them but the• vacancies so dereserved shall· be IB
carried forward for three recruitment years. t ·
, .,
''
(e). If the required number of candidates of Scheduled Castes,
.• t .1 '" Scheduled Tribes and Extremely Backward ·and Backward
··, . Glasses are not available for filling up the reserved vacancies,
;; ,, fresh advertisement· may .be. made lonly ·for •the.:candidates
,# •
1 belonging to the members of. Scheduled· Castes, Scheduled
f . Tribes and Extremely Backward arid Backward Classes, as:the
<- · •·case may be, to fill the backlog vacancies only:"· " •
.;, . /
A b<!fe reading .of the said provision shows .that all appointments to services ( 1
and posts in any establishment by way of direct recruitment• require to• be
subjected to reservation so that all available vacancies have. to·be 1filled in from
open category candidates only up to 50% and from reserved category up to
remaining 50%. It cannot be disputed that posts of District Judges and :Judges
subordinate to the District Judiciary are also posts in Judicial Service. Question
is whether the phrase 'posts in any ·establishment" go~ems sud:\. juciidal ·posts. · :
We have, therefore, to turn to the defiriitioii 'ohhe term ··establi'Shmene• as
found in Section 2(c) of the Act. The relevant provision the~eof lays 'down that
"establishment" means "any Office or department of the State· concerned-with
the appointments to public services and posts· in connection wfth the' affairs 1
of the State". On a conjoint reading of the definition of "State" under Section 1
2(n) and the definition "establishment" under· Section 2(c), the -following
sta-tutory scheme emerges. Any office or establishment of the Judiciary of the
State of Bihar concerned with the appointments; to public' services' and posts
in connection with affairs of the Judiciary of the State of Bihar would fall
within the sweep of the term 'establishment'. Once that conclusion ·emerges
;)
from the scheme of the Act, it becomes obvious that alkappointments "to
services and posts in any office or department of the Judiciary of the State of
Bihar would be covered by the sweep of Section 4. On the aforesaid 1scheme
of the Act, the High Court in the impugned judgment, has taken the view that
the operation of Section 4 for offices or departments of the Judiciary of the
State of Bihar would cover only the ministerial staff of the District Courts and J !
328 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A courts subordinate thereto and would not include Presiding Officers and
therefore, Section 4 will not govern the direct recruitment to ,the posts or
Presiding Officers of the District Judiciary as well as of Subordinate Judiciary.
It is difficult to appreciate this line of reasoning on the express language of
the relevant provisions of Section 4 read with the definition provisions. It
becomes obvious that the term 'any office' of the Judiciary of the State of
B
Bihar would naturally include not only ministerial staff but also officers,
including Presiding Officers of courts comprised in the Judiciary of the State.
Once that conclusion is reached on the express language of the relevant
provisions of the Act, it cannot be held that the thrust of Section 4 would not
apply to govern reservation for direct recruitment to the posts of Presiding
C Officers in the District Courts as well as courts subordinate thereto, as all of
them will form part and parcel of the Judiciary of the State of Bihar and will
have to be treated as holders of offices in the State Judiciary. Consequently,
it is not possible to agree with the contention of learned senior counsel Shri
Thakur for the High Court that ·on the express provisions of the Act, Section
D 4 cannot apply to govern recruitment to posts in Subordinate Judiciary. The
first point for determination, therefore, has to be answered in the affirmative
in favour of the appellants and against the respondents.
Point No. 2:
E Sin~e it is held that Section 4 of the impugned Act, on its express terms,
covers direct recruitment to posts in the cadre of District Judiciary as well as
to Subordinate Judiciary in the State of Bihar, moot question arises as to
whether Section 4 can be sustained on the touchstone of the relevant
Constitutional scheme governing the recruitment and appointments to these
F posts. For coming to the grip of this problem, we have to keep in view the
salient features of the Constitution emanating from the Directive Principles of
State Policy as laid down by Article 50 which underscores the felt need of
separation of the Judiciary from the Executive. For achieving that purpose, the
Constitution has made separate provisions regarding the recruitment and
appointment to the cadre of District Judges as well as the Subordinate
G Judiciary as found in Chapter VI of Part VI of the Constitution and, as seen
earlier, these provisions are conspicuously not included in part XIV dealing
in general with Services under the Union and the States. Article 309 itself,
which is of general nature, dealing with regulation of Recruitment and •
conditions of Service of persons serving in the Union or a State is expressly
H made subject to other provisions of the Constitution.
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 329
- The first part of Article 235 itself lays down that it is for the High
Court to control the District Courts and Courts subordinate thereto and in
A
exercise of that control vesting in the High Court, regulation of posting and
promotions and granting of leave to persons belonging to the Judicial Services
has to be done by the High Court. It is, of course, true that in the second
part of Article 235 judicial officers already appointed to the Service have their B
statutory right of appeal and the right to b( dealt with regarding other service
conditions as laid down by any other law for the time being in force,
expressly protected. But thes_e provisions of the second part only enable the
Governor under Article 309, in the absence of any statutory enactment made
by the competent Legislature for regulating the conditions of service of
judicial officers who are already recruited and have entered and become part c
and parcel of the State service, to promulgate appropriate rules on the subject.
But so far as the entry points are concerned, namely, recruitment and
appointment to the posts of Presiding Officers of the courts subordinate to
the High Courts, only Articles 233 and 234 would govern the field. Article
234 lays down the procedure and the method of recruiting judicial officers D
at grass-root level being Subordinate Judges and Munsiffs as laid down by
the 1955 Rules. These Rules are .also framed by the Governor of Bihar in
exercise of his powers under Article 234 obviously after the consultation of
the High Court and the Public Service Commission. Rules regarding the
procedure of selection to be followed by the State Public Service Commission E
as found in Rules 4 to 17 deal with the method to be adopted by the Public
Service Commission while selecting candidates who offer their candidature
for the posts advertised to be filled in. These Rules obviously require
consultation with the Commission on the procedural aspect of selection
process. But so far as the High Court is concerned, its consultation becomes
pivotal and relevant by the thrust of Article 233 itself as it is the High Court F
which has to control the candidates, who ultimately on getting selected, have
to act as Judges at the lowest level of the Judiciary and whose posting,
. promotion and grant of leave and other judicial control would vest only in
the High Court, as per Article 235 first part, once they enter the judicial
service at grass-root level. Thus consultation of the Governor with the High G
Court under Article 234 is entirely of a different type as compared to his
consultation with the Public Service Commission about procedural aspect of
selection. So far as direct recruitment to the posts of District Judges is
concerned, Article 233 sub-article (2) leaves no room for doubt that unless
the candidate is rec6mmended by the High Court, the Governor cannot H
330 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000) 2 S.C.R.
A appoint him as a District Judge. Thus Articles 233 and 234, amongst them,
represent a well-knit and complete scheme regulating the appointments at the
apex· level of District Judiciary, namely, District Judges on the one hand and
Subordinate Judges at the grass-root level of Judiciary subordinate to the
district court. Thus Subordinate Judiciary represents a pyramidical structure.
At base level i.e. grass- root level are the Munsiffs and Magistrates whose
B
rec:ruitment is governed by Article 234. That is the first level of the Judiciary.
The second level represents already recruited judicial officers at grass-root
level, whose working is controlled by the High Court under Article 235 first
part. At the top of this pyramid are the posts of District Judges. Their
recruitment to these posts is governed by Article 233. It is the third and the
c apex level of Subordinate Judiciary.
It has also to be kept in view that neither Article 233 nor Article 234
contains any provision of being subject to any enactment by appropriate
Legislature as we find in Articles 98, 146, 148, 187, 229(2) and 324(5). These
D latter Articles contain provisions regarding the rule making power of the
concerned authorities subject to the provisions of the law made by the
Parliament or Legislature. Such a provision is conspicuously absent in
Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution of India. Therefore, it is not possible
to agree with the contention of learned counsel for the appellant-State that
these Articles only deal with the rule making power of the Governor, but
E do not touch the legislative power of the competent Legislature. It has to be
kept in view that once the Constitution provides a complete Code for
regulating recruitment and appointment to District Judiciary and to Subordinate
Judiciary, it gets insulated from the interference of any other outside agency.
We have to keep in view the scheme of the Constitution and its basic
F framework that the Executive has to be separated from the Judiciary. Hence,
the general sweep of Article 309 has to be read subject to this complete Code
regarding appointment of District Judges and Judges in the Subordinate
Judiciary.
In this connection, we have also to keep in view Article 245 which,
G
in its express terms, is made subject to other provisions of the Constitution
which would include Articles 233 and 234. Consequently, as these twin
Articles cover the entire field regarding recruitment and appointment of
District Judges and Judges of the Subprdinate Judiciary at base level pro tanto
the otherwise paramount legislative power of the State Legislature to operate
H on this field clearly gets excluded by the Constitutional scheme itself. Thus
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 331
both Artides 309 and 245 will have to be read subject to Articles 233 and A
234 as provided in the former Articles themselves.
It is true, as submitted by learned senior counsel Shri Dwivedi for the
appellant-State that under Article 16(4) the State is enabled to provide for
reservations in Services. But so far as 'Judicial Service' is concerned, such
B
reservation can be made by the Governor, in exercise of his rule making
power only after consultation with the High Court. The enactment of any
statutory provision dehors consultation with the High Court for regulating the
recruitment to District Judiciary and to Subordinate Judiciary will clearly fly
in the face of the complete scheme of recruitment and appointment to
Subordinate Judiciary and the exclusive field earmarked in connection with C
such appointments by Articles 233 and 234. It is not as if that the High Courts
being constitutional functionaries may be oblivious of the need for a scheme
of reservation if necessary in appropriate cases by resorting to the enabling
provision under Article 16(4). The High Courts can get consulted by the
Governor for framing appropriate rules regarding reservation for governing D
recruitment under Articles 233 and 234. But so long as it is not done, the
Legislature cannot, by an indirect method, completely bypassing the High
Court and exercising its legislative power, circumvent and cut across the very
scheme of recruitment and appointment to District Judiciary as envisaged
by the makers of the Constitution. Such an exercise, apart from being E
totally forbidden by the Constitutional scheme, will also fall foul on the
concept relating to "separation of powers between the legislature, the
executive and the judiciary" as well as the fundamental concept of an
'independent judiciary'. Both the~e concepts are now elevated to the level
of basic structure of the Constitution and are the very heart of the Constitutional
scheme. F
In the case of His Holilless Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru v.
State of Kerctla & Arn: Etc. Etc., [1973) 4 SCC 225, a twelve-member
Constitution Bench of this Court had occasion to consider this question
regarding the basic structure of the Constitution which, according to the G
Court, could not be tinkered with by the Parliament in exercise of its
amending power under Article 368 of the Constitution. Sikri, CJ., in para 247
of the Report referred with approval the decision of the Judicial Committee
in Liyange's case, (1967) 1 AC 259 for culling out the implied limitations
on the amending power of the competent Legislature like the Parliament of
H
332 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A Ceylon with which that case was concerned. The relevant observations are
found in paras 253 to 255 of the Report at pages 357 and 358, which read
as under :
"253. The case, however, furnishes another instance where implied
limitations were inferred. After . referring to the provisions dealing with
B
"judicature" and the Judges, the Board observed:
"These provisions manifest an intention to secure in the judi-
ciary a freedom from political, legislative and executive control.
They are wholly appropriate in a Constitution which intends that
c judicial power shall be vested only in the judicature. They would
be inappropriate in a Constitution by which it was intended that
judicial power should be shared by the executive or the legislature.
The Constitution's silence as to the vesting of judicial power is
consistent with its remaining, where it had lain for more than a
D century, in the hands of the judicature. It is not consistent with any
intention that henceforth it should pass to or be shared by, the
executive or the legislature."
254. The Judicial Committee was of the view that there "exists a
separate power in the judicature which under the Constitution as it
E
stands cannot be usurped or infringed by the executive or the
legislature". The Judicial Committee cut down the plain words of
Section 29(1) thus:
"Section 29( 1) of the Constitution says.- 'Subject/ to the provi-
F sions of this Order Parliament shall have power to make laws for the
peace, order and good government of the Island.' These words have
habitually been construed in their fullest scope. Section 29(4) pro-
vides' that Parliament may amend the Constitution on a two-thirds
majority with a certificate of the Speaker. Their Lordships however,
G cannot read the words of Section 29( 1) as entitling Parliament to pass
legislation which usurps the judicial power of the Judicature-e.g., by
passing an Act of attainder against some person or instructing a judge
to bring in a verdict of guilty against someone who is being tried-if
in law such usurpation would otherwise be contrary to the Constitu-
tion." (p.289)
·H
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 333
255. In conclusion the Judicial Committee held that there was A
interference with the functions of the judiciary and it was not only
the likely but the intended effect of the impugned enactments, and that
was fatal to their validity."
The ultimate conclusion to which Chief Justice Sikri reached are found in
B
paras 292 to 294 at page 366 of the Report which read as under :
"292. The learned Attorney-General said that every provision of the
Constitution is essential; otherwise it would not have been put in the
Constitution. This is true. But this does not place every provision of
the Constitution in the same position. The true position is that every C
provision of the Constitution can be amended provided in the result
the basic foundation and structure of the constitution remains the
same. The basic structure may be said to consist of the following
features:
D
(1) Supremacy of the Constitution;
(2) Republican and Democratic form of Government;
(3) Secular character of the Constitution;
(4) Separation of powers between the legislature, the
executive and the judiciary;
(5) Federal character of the Constitution.
E
293. The above structure is built on the basic foundation, i.e., the
dignity and freedom of the individual. This is of supreme impor-
tance. This cannot by any form of amendment be destroyed.
F
294. The above foundation and the above basic features are easily
discernible not only from the preamble but the whole scheme of
the Constitution, which I have already discussed."
The other learned Judges constituting the Constitution Bench had nothing
inconsistent to say in this connection. Thus separation of powers between the G
legislature, the executive and the judiciary is the basic feature of the Constitution.
It has also to be kept in view that judicial independence is the very
essence and basic structure of the Constitution. We may also usefully refer to
the latest decision of the Constitution Bench of this Court in Registrar H
)
334 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A (Admn.), High Court of Orissa, Cuttack Etc. v. Sisir Kanta Satapathy (Dead)
by LRs & Am: Etc., [1999] 7 SCC page 725, wherein K.Venkataswami, J.,
speaking for the Constitution Bench, made the following pertinent observations
in the very firs.t two paras regarding Articles 233 to 235 of the Constitutioi;i
of India :
B
"An independent judiciary is one of the basic features of the Consti-
tution of the Republic. Indian Constitution has zealously guarded
independence of judiciary. Independence of judiciary is doubtless a
basic structure of the Constitution but the said concept of independ-
ence has to be confined within the four corners of the Constitution
c and cannot go beyond the Constitution."
The Constitution Bench in the aforesaid decision also relied upon the
observations of this Court in All bzdia·Judges' Association & Ors. etc. (supra),
wherein on the topic of regulating the service conditions of Judiciary as
D permitted by Article 235 read with Article 309, it had been observed as under:
" .... the mere fact that Article 309 gives power to the executive and
the legislature to prescribe the service conditions of the judiciary does
not mean that the judiciary. should have no say in the matter. It would
be against the spirit of the Constitution to deny any role to the
E judiciary in that behalf, for theoretically it would not be impossible
for the executive or the legislature to turn and twist the tail of the
judiciary by using the said power. Such a consequence would be
against one of the seminal mandates of the Constitution, namely, to
maintain the independence of the judiciary."
F
In view of this settled legal position, therefore, even while operating in the
permissible field of regulating other conditions of service of already recruited
judicial officers by exercising power under Article 309, the concerned
authorities have to keep in view the opinion of the High Court of the
concerned State and the same cannot be whisked away.
G
In order to fructify this Constitutional intention of preserving the independence
of Judiciary and for fructifying this basic requirement, the process of recruitment
and appointment to the District Judiciary with which we are concerned in the
present case, is insulated from outside legislative interference by the
H Constitutional makers by enacting a complete Code for that purpose, as laid
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 335
down by Articles 233 and 234. Consultation with the High Court is, therefore, A
an inevitable essential feature of the exercise contemplated under these two
Articles. If any outside independent interference was envisaged by them,
nothing prevented the founding fathers from making Articles 233 and 234
subject to the law enacted by the Legislature of States or Parliament as was
done in the case of other Articles, as seen earlier. In the case of State of Kerala
B
V. Smt. A. Lakshmikutty & Ors., [1986] 4 sec 632, a two member Bench of
this Court, speaking through Sen, J., placing reliance on the Constitution
Bench judgment of this Court in Chandra Mohan v. State of U.P., [1967] I
SCR 77, made the following pertinent observations in paras 22 to 25 at pages
647-648, which read as under :
c
"22. The heart of the matter is that 'consultation' between the State
Government and the High Court in the matter of appointment of
District Judges under Article 233(1) of the Constitution must be real,
full and effective. To make the consultation effective, there has to
be an interchange of views between the High Court and the State D
Government, so that any departure from the advice of the High
Court would be explained to the High Court by the State Govern-
ment. If the State Government were simply to give lip service to the
principle of consultation and depart from the advice of the High
Court in making judicial appointments without referring back to the
High Court the difficulties which prevent the government from E
accepting its advice, the consultation would not be effective and any
appointment of a person as a District Judge by direct recruitment
from the bar or by promotion from the judicial services under Article
233(1) would be invalid. Unless the State Government were to
convey to the High Court the difficulties which prevent the govern- F
ment from accepting its advice by referring back the matter the
consultation would not be effective.
23. Indubitably, the power of appointment of persons to be District
Judges conferred on the Governor, meaning the State Government,
under Article 233(1) in consultation_ with the High Court is an G
executive function. It has been settled by a long line of decisions of
this Court starting from Chandra Mohan v. State of U.P. to M.M.Gupta
v. State of J & K that the power of the State Government is not
absolute and unfettered but is hedged in with conditions. The exercise
of the power of the Governor under Article 233( 1) in the matter of H
336 SUPREME COURT REPORTS . [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A appointment of 6istrict Judges is conditioned by consultation with the
exercise of the power that the power can only be exercised in
consultation with the High Court.
24. Appointment of persons to be, and the posting and promotion of;
B District Judges in any State, shall be made by the Governor of the
State under Article 233(1) in consultation with the High Court
exercising jurisdiction in relation to such State. Sub-Article (2)
thereof provides that a person not already in the serv!ce of the Union
or of the State shall only be eligible to be appointed as a District
Judge if he has been for not less than seven years an advocate or
c a pleader and is recommended by the High ·court for appointment.
It is therefore obvious that eligibility of appointment of persons to be
District Judges by direct recruitment from amongst the members of
the bar depends entirely on the recommendation of the High Court.
The State Government has no power to appoint any person as a
D District Judge except from the panel of names forwarded by the High
Court. As stated, the decisions starting from Chandra Mohan v. State
of U.P. have established the principle as a rule of law, that consultation
between the Governor and the High Court in the matter of appoint-
ment of District Judges under Article 233(1) must not be empty
E formality but real, full and effective.
25. In Chandra Mohan v. State of U.P., Subba Rao, C.J. speaking
for a unanimous court observed : "The exercise of the power of
appointment by the Governor is conditioned by his consultation with
the High Court, that is to say, he can only appoint a person to the
F
post of District Judge in consultation with the High Court. The
object of consultation is apparent. The High Court is expected to
know better than the Governor in regard to the suitability or
otherwise 6f a person, belonging either to the "Judicial Service" or
to the bar, to be appointed as a District Judge. Therefore, a duty is
G enjoined on the Governor to make the appointment in consultation
with a body which is the appropriate authority to give advice to
him... .These provisions indicate that the duty to consult is so
integrated with the exercise of the power that the power can be
exercised only in consultation with the person or persons designated
H therein".
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 337
To the same effect are the decisions in Cha1zdramouleshwar Prasad v. Patna A
High Court, [1969] 3 SCC 56, High Court of P & H v. State of Haryana,
[1975] 1 sec 843, A.Panduranga Rao V. State of A.P., [1975] 4 sec 709, and
M.M. Gupta v. State of J & K, [1982] 3 SCC 412.
It becomes, therefore, obvious that no recruitment to the post of a
B
District Judge can be made by the Governor without recommendation from the
High Court. Similarly: appointments to Subordinate Judiciary at grass-root
level also cannot be made by the Governor save and except according to the
rules framed by him in consultation with the High Court and the Public Service
Commission. Any statutory provision bypassing consultation with the High
Court and laying down a statutory fiat as is tried to be done by enactment of · C
Section 4 by the Bihar Legislature has got to be held to be in direct conflict
with the complete Code regarding recruitment and appointment to the posts
of District Judiciary and Subordinate Judiciary as permitted and envisaged by
Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution. Impugned Section 4, therefore,
cannot operate in the clearly earmarked and forbidden field for the State
D
Legislature so far as the topic of recruitment to District Judiciary and
Subordinate Judiciary is concerned. That field is carved out and taken out from
the operation of the general sweep of Article 309.
It is, of course, true as laid down by a catena of decisions of this Court,
that topics of constitution of courts and services, laying down of rules E
regarding the conditions of service other than those expressly placed within
the jurisdiction of the High Court by Articles 233 and 235, providing for age
of superannuation or other retirement benefits to judicial officers, fixing pay
scales, diversification of cadres may form part of general recruitment and
conditions of services falling within the spheres of Governor's rule making F
power under Article 309 read with second part of Article 235 or may even be
made subject matter of legislation by competent Legislature in exercise of its
legislative powers under entry 41 of List II or for that matter entry 11 A of List
III of the Seventh Schedule. But save and except this pei-mi.tted field, the State
Legislature cannot enter upon the forbidden field expressly reserved for
consultation with the High Court by the thrust of Articles 233 and 234 so far G
as the initial entry point of recruitment to judicial service at grass root level
or at the apex level of the District Judiciary is concerned. A three-Judge Bench
of this Court in the case of A.Panduranga Rao v. State of Andh~a Pradesh &
Ors., AIR (1975) SC 1922, speaking through Untwalia, J., considered the
question whether any one can be appointed by the Governor as a District Judge H
338 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A without being recommended by the High Court. Relying on the Constitution
Bench decision of this Court in Chandra Mohan's case (supra) in para 7 of
the Report, observations were made as under :
"T~ere are two sources of recru~ent, namely, (i) service of the
Union or the State, and (ii) members of the Bar. The said Judges from
B the first source are appointed in consultation with the High Court. and
those from the second source are appointed on the recommendation
of the High Coiut."
And thereafter following pertinent observations were made in para 8, which
read as under :
c
"A candidate for direct recruitment from the Bar does not become
eligible for appointment without the recommendation of the High
Court. He becomes eligible only on such recommendation under
clause (2) of Article 233. The High Court in the judgment under
D appeal felt some difficulty in appreciating the meaning of the word
"recommended". But the literal meaning given in the Concise
Oxford Dictionary is quite simple and apposite. It means "suggest
as fit for employment". In case of appointment from the Bar it is
not open to the Government to choose a candidate for appointment
until and unless his name is recommended by the High Court."
E
It is, therefore, obvious that the State Legislature has no role to play while
controlling appointments of District Judges under Article 233 or appointment
of Civil Judges to Subordinate Judiciary at grass-root level under the District
Judiciary and it is only the Governor who is entrusted with the said task which
he has to undertake after consultation with the High Court and by framing
F
appropriate rules for recruitment to Judiciary at grass-root level as enjoined by
Article 234 and can only act on recommendation by the High Court for direct
recruitment from the Bar for being appointed as District Judges as laid down
by Article 233 sub-article (2). There is no third method or third authority
which can intervene in the process or can have its say, whether legislative
G authority or executive authority, as the case may be, independently of the
complete scheme of such recruitment as· envisaged by the aforesaid two
Articles. It is, therefore, difficult to appreciate the contention oflearned senior
counsel for the appellant-State that paramount legislative power of the State
Legislature stands untouched by the scheme of the aforesaid two Articles of
H the Constitution.
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 339
Shri Dwivedi, learned senior counsel for the appellant-State was right A
when he contended that Article 16(4) is an enabling provision permitting the
State to lay down a scheme of reservation in State Services. It may also be
true that Judicial Service can also be considered to be a part of such Service
as laid down by this Court in the case of B.S. Yadav & Ors. Etc. (supra).
However, so far as the question of exercising that enabling power under B
Article 16(4) for laying down an appropriate scheme of reservation goes, as
seen earlier, we cannot be oblivious of the fact that the High Court, being the
high Constitutional functionary, would also be alive to its social obligations
and the Constitutional guideline for having scheme of reservation to ameliorate
the lot of deprived reserved categories like the SC, ST and Other Backward
Classes. But for that purpose, the Governor can, in consultation with the High c
Court, make appropriate rules and provide for a scheme of reservation for
appointments at grass-root level or even at the highest level of the District
Judiciary, but so long as this is not done, the State Legislature cannot, by
upsetting the entire apple-cart and totally bypassing the Constitutional mandate
of Articles 233 and 234 and without being required to consult the High Court, D
lay down a statutory scheme of reservation as a road roller straight jacket
formula uniformly governing all State Services, including Judiciary. It is easy
to visualise that the High Court may, on being properly and effectively
consulted, endorse the Governor's view to enact provision of reservation a. 1
lay down the percentage of reservation in Judicial Service, for which it will E
be the appropriate authority to suggest appropriate measures and required
percentage of reservation, keeping in view the thrust of Article 335 which
requires the consideration of the claim of members of SC, ST and OBC for
reservation in Services to be consistent with the maintenance of efficiency of
administration. It is obvious that maintenance of efficiency of judicial
administration is entirely within the control and jurisdiction of the High Court F
as laid down by Article 235. The State Legislature, on its own, woald
obviously lack the expertise and the knowledge based on experience of
judicial administration which is possessed by the High Court. Consequently,
bypassing the High Court, it cannot, in exercise of its supposed paramount
legislative power enact any rule of thumb and provide fixed percentage of G
reservation for SC, ST and Other Backward Classes in Judicial Services and
also lay down detailed procedure to be followed as laid down by sub-sections
(3) to (6) of Section 4 for effecting such statutorily fixed 50% reservation. It
is easy to visualise that if the High Court is not consulted and obviously cannot
be consulted while enacting any law by the State Legislature and en bloc 50% H
340 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A reservation is provided in the Judicial Service as is sought to be done by
Section 4 of the Act and which would automatically operate and would present
the High Court with a .fait accompli, it would be deprived of the right to
suggest during the Constitutionally guaranteed consultative process, by way
of its own expertise, that for maintenance of efficiency of administration in
B Judicial Service coh_trolled by it, 50% reservation may not be required, and/
or even lesser percentage may be required or even may not be required at all.
Even that opportunity will not be available to the High Court if it is held that
the State Legislature can enact the law of reservation and make it automatically
applicable to Judicial Service bypassing the High Court completely. Such an
exercise vehemently canv.assed for our approval by learned senior counsel for
c the appellant- State cannot be countenanced on the express scheme of the
Constitution, as discussed by .us earlier. Even proceeding on the basis that the
scheme of Article 16(1) read with Article 16(4) may be treated to be forming
a part of the basic feature of the Constitution, it has to be appreciated that for
fructifying such a Constitutional scheme, Article 335 has to be kept in view
D by the authority concerned before such a scheme, of reservation can be
promulgated. Once Article 335 has to be given its full play while enacting such
a scheme of reservation, the High Court, entrusted with the full control of
Subordinate Judiciary as per Article 235 by the Constitution, has got to be
consulted and cannot be q/eated to be a stranger to the said exercise as
E envisaged by the impugned statutory provision.
We may now refer to one submission of learned senior counsel Shri
Dwivedi for the appellant-State. He contended that there cannot be any
,
dispute regarding appointments to available vacancies in the cadre of District
Judiciary and that they can be filled in only on the recommendation of the
F High Court and equally there cannot be any dispute regarding filling up of
all vacancies in the Subordinate Judiciary as per Article 234. They can be
filled in by the Governor as per rules framed in consultation with the High
Court and the Public Service Commission. But so far as reservation of
vacancies to be filled in by reserved category of candidates is concerned, it
G is an exercise which is resorted to by the State authorities in discharge of
their enabling powers under Article 16(4). That is a stage anterior to the
question of recruitment or appointment on available vacancies in the cadre
of District Judiciary or in the cadre of Subordinate Judiciary. Consequently,
such an exercise invoked by any administrative order or, even by legislation,
H cannot be said to be conflicting in any manner with the procedure of
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 341
recruitment and appointment to District Judiciary and Subordinate Judiciary A
as per Articles 233 and 234 of the Comtitution.
This argument, as submitted, looks attractive but on closer scrutiny falls
through, as we shall see presently. It is not in dispute and cannot be disputed
that creation of cadres and creation of posts in a cadre comprised in Judicial
B
Service of the State can be resorted to by the Governor in exercise of his rule
making power under Article 309 or for that matter by any appropriate
Legislation by the State authorities under the very same Article. But once
cadre of District Judges and Subordinate Judiciary are constituted by the
aforesaid authorities and posts backed up by suitable budgetary provisions are
created and are accordingly made available to be filled in the concerned c
cadres, process of creation of posts comes to an end. Thereafter when in the
created posts borne on any judicial cadre, whether at the District Court level
or at the Subordinate Court level, any vacancies arise by retirement or
otherwise non-availability of the incumbents due to any other reason, question
of filling up of those available vacancies would arise. Such available vacancies D
of sanctioned posts have to be filled in only after following the procedure laid
down by Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution of India and cannot be
subjected to any other procedure. At that stage, directing the High Court
without its consent and consultation and merely by the thrust of legislative
provision that 50% of the available vacancies in the cadre of District Judges
or Judges of the Subordinate Judiciary must be filled in from reserved E
candidates only would ex-facie cut across the power of the High Court which
alone can recommend the filling up of all such vacancies in the district cadre
as per Article 233 and equally the power of the High Court to render effective
consultation to the Governor under Article 234 when he frames rules for
recruitment of candidates for filling up of all available vacancies in the F
Subordinate Judiciary under the district court as per Article 234. It is difficult
to appreciate how filling up of vacancies in the already sanctioned posts in
these cadres will remain an exercise anterior to the procedure laid down by
the Constitution for filling up of these vacancies as per Articles 233 and 234,
as the case may be. In any case, impugned Section 4 of the Act, by its express
wordings, does not contemplate any such stage anterior to filling up of
G
vacancies in the existing posts. On the contrary, it provides that all appointments
to Services and Posts in an establishment which are to be filled in by direct
recruitment shall be regulated in the manner laid down therein. Meaning
thereby, 50% of the appointments to such available posts have to be done from
reserved category candidates as per percentage provided for each of such H
342 \ \SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
\
A classes. That necessarily means that 50% of the existing vacancies in the
available posts in the Services have to be filled in from reserved category
candidates only. This mandate of Section 4, therefore, gets direcfly hit by the
scheme of the complete Code for such direct recruitment to the Judicial
Services in the district cadre or subordinate cadre, as envisaged by Articles
233 and 234 of the Constitution of India.
B
. We may take an example to highlight this position. Supposing there are
10 vacancies of District Judges at a given point of time in the State, which are
available to l?e filled in by direct recruitment keeping in view the ratio of such
direct recruitment permissible under the relevant rules. Once these 10 vacancies /
c of District Judges are requited to be filled in by direct recruitment on the
I
recommendation of the High Court from the members of the Bar subject to
the minimum eligibility laid down under Article 233 sub-article (2), the High
Court obviously has to undertake the exercise of selection of eligible candidates
on its own. The Governor; in such a case, shall have only to pass consequential
D orders of appointment from the panel as recommended by the High Court If
no such recommendations are forthcoming, the Governor will have no
jurisdiction or power to make any such appointment as clearly mandated by
Article 233 sub-article (2). Once the High Court undertakes such an exercise
and prepares a panel of eligible and suitable direct recruits from the Bar after
E . holding appropriate tests whether written or oral as the relevant procedural
rules may provide, it will, iri the serial order of inter se merit prepare a panel
of 10 candidates and recommend them for appointment and the panel may be
sent for passing appropriate orders. If that is so, all the 10 vacancies have to
be filled in in the light of the panel prepared by the High Court! keeping in
view the names of candidates listed in the panel as per the rankings made by
F the High Court in the order of their respective merits. Therefore, the High
Court will prepare a panel of l 0 recommendees for appointment to first ·10
vacancies in the serial order of their ranking as per merit and suitability. This
is the Constitutional mandate of that Article. Now if it is visualised that the
State Legislature, by an independent enactment, as in the present case, requires·
G the High Court to treat only the first five vacancies to be filled in by direct
recruitment from general category in the order of merit and the remaining five
• vacancies are required to be filled in from reserved category of candidates only
and even if those reserved five vacancies can be filled in by appointing ,..
reserved category of candidates as per the order of their i;iter se merit, even
H then the thrust of Section 4, to that extent, will certainly cqt across or restrict .
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 343
the power and authority of the High Court to recommend appointments to all A
the ten vacancies of suitable meritorious candidates as found by it. The result
would be that first five vacancies may go to the first five candidates
recommended in the panel according to merit but so far as the vacancy nos.
6 to 10 are concerned even though the 6th direct recruit recommended by the
High Court is obviously more meritorious than the candidate listed in the panel B
at serial no. 7, he may have to be bypassed if the candidate at serial no. 6 in
the panel belongs to general category while candidate no. 7 belongs to SC
category namely, reserved category. The net result would be that though the
High Court, in exercise of its Constitutional obligation and authority,
recommends the 6th vacancy in the District Judge cadre to be filled up by
candidate no.6 listed in the panel, by thrust of impugned Section 4 of the Act, c
the 6th vacancy can be filled in by the Governor by appointing candidate no.
7 who is less meritorious as compared to candidate no.6 and who is not
recommended by the High Court for being appointed in vacancy no. 6. Thus,
he will be bypassed by candidate no. 7 who may belong to the SC category
and ·who may be standing higher in so far as inter se merit between the SC D
candidates only are concerned. Supposing at serial no. 9 there is another SC
candidate then vis-a-vis candidate nos. 7 and 9, who both belong to SC
category', this 6th vacancy, because of the thrust of Section 4 can be filled up
by candidate no.7. The submission of Shri Dwivedi that between two SC
candidates or candidates belonging to the same reserved category it will be E
open to the High Court to recommend appointment of more meritorious
reserved category candidate as compared to the candidate of the same category
who is less meritorious and this exercise would satisfy the requirement of
Article 233 sub-article (2) only gives lip service to that Article. The reason is
obvious. The High Court's power and in fact Constitutional obligation to
recommend meritorious candidates found suitable by it for filling up of all
F
vacant posts will obviously get truncated and restricted and the High Court
though not recommending candidate No.7 as suitable candidate for filling up
vacancy no.6, will be helpless by not being permitted appointment of
candidate no.6 who belongs to general category to occupy that post and will
have willy-nilly to suffer against its own decision regarding appointment of G
candidate no.7 who belongs to SC category for filling up vacancy no.6 and
this exercise will be thrust upon the High Court without being consulted in this
connection by the State Legislature by enacting the impugned Section 4 of the
· Act. This appointment obviously will be null and void and violative of Article
233 (2). This type of bypassing the High Court will clearly be an act of H
344 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 ~.C.R.
I
A interference with independence of judiciary which is the hallmark and bedrock
of the Constitutional scheme. Section 4, therefore, has got to be held not to
be operative on the forbidden field occupied by Articles 233 and 234 of the
Constitution of India. This is obviously a type of reservation which is thrust
upon the High Court by Section 4. It cannot be treated to be referable to a stage
B anterior to the process of recruitment and appointment. In fact, as seen above,
Section 4 itself deals with the reservation for direct recruitment on available
posts. Therefore, in the field of recruitment itself Section 4 seeks to have its
independent sway. Both Article 233 and Article 234 also deal with the very
same question of recruitment and appointment to District Judiciary. It is this
very field wholly reserved for operation of Articles 233 and 234 that is
c encroached upon by Section 4, by its express language, if made applicable to
judicial appointments.
As seen earlier, consultation with the High Court is a sine qua non in
connection with direct recruitment of judicial officers at grass-root level i.e.
D Munsiffs and Magistrates and whose recruitment is governed by the rules
framed under Article 234 being the 1955 Rules. Similarly, recruitment at
district level judiciary is governed by 1951 Rules framed under Article 233
read with Article 309 of the Constitution of India. However, direct recruitment
as District Judges has to be solely based on appropriate recommendations of
suitable candidates by the High Court. In fact Rule 3 thereof, provides that
E the "strength of the Service and the number and character of the posts shall
be as specified in the schedule to these rules", and once we turn to the
Schedule to the 1951 Rules, we find listed five cadres of superior judiciary
at the district level and the total posts sanctioned being 26. Obviously, this
rule has a direct nexus with Article 309 read with Article 233. But beyond
F that when the question of filling up of vacancies in the cadres of higher
District Judiciary on the already sanctioned posts crops up, the field is fully
occupied by Article 233 sub-articles (1) and (2) and there is no other power
with any other Constitutional authority to effect such recruitment on available
vacancies. It is not possible to visualise that, while providing for direct
G recruitment to District Judiciary as per Article 233 sub-article (2), even
though the minimum eligibility qualification laid down under the said
provision is that the candidate should have been practising for not less than
seven years as an advocate or a pleader, any further eligibility as belonging
to a reserved category is envisaged for a given post. Consequently, it is not
possible to agree with the contention of learned counsel Shri Dwivedi for the
H
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 345
appellant-State that question of recruitment to the cadre of District Judges A
by directing the High Court to recommend eligible candidates for appointment
keeping in view only 50% of the available vacancies to be filled in by general
category and by treating the remaining 50% of the vacancies as reserved
would be a stage anterior to the stage of recruitment or appointment to such
available vacancies on the already sanctioned posts in the cadre of District B
Judiciary.
At this stage we may also refer to the~decision of a Constitution Bench
of this Court in B.S. Yadav's case (supra) wherein Chandrachud, CJ had an
occasion to interpret Article 235 read with Article 309 proviso. The question
which arose for consideration in that case was whether the rule of seniority c
of existing members of Superior Judicial Services as framed by the Governor
in exercise of his powers under Article 309 proviso could validly operate to
regulate the seniority of such already recruited and appointed judicial officers
in Subordinate Judiciary. In order to avoid the operation of the said rule which
was having a direct nexus with conditions of service of already appointed D
judicial officers, a contention was raised that under Article 235 even this
subject matter was part and parcel of the control of Subordinate Judiciary
vesting in the High Court under that article. While negativing this contention,
the Constitution Bench, speaking through Chandrachud, CJ, placed reliance
on the second part of Article 235 and observed as under :
E
"The power of control vested in the High Court by Art. 235 is
expressly made subject 'to the law which the State Legislature may
pass for regulating the recruitment and service conditions of judicial
officers of the State. The framers of the Constitution did not regard
the power of the State Legislature to pass laws regulating the F
recruitment and conditions of service of judicial officers as an
infringement of the independence of the judiciary. The mere powers
to pass such a law is not violative of the control vested in the High
Court over the State judiciary."
Placing strong reliance on the aforesaid observations it was contended by G
learned senior counsel for the appellant-State that it has been authoritatively
ruled by the Constitution Bench of this Court that the framers of the
Constitution did not regard the power of the State Legislature to pass laws
regulating the recruitment and conditions of service of judicial officers as an
infringement of the independence of the judiciary. Now it must be kept in H
346 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A view that these observations are made in the light of second part of Article
235 which expressly saves laws regulating the conditions of service of already
recruited judicial officers and who are functioning under the control of the
High Court under Article 235. Once the very same Article permits the limited
field for operation of law-makers or rule-makers under Article 309 for
regul~ting the conditions of services of .such already appointed judicial
B
officers by way of enacting any appropriate statutory provision either by
exercise of rule making power of the Governor under Article 309 proviso
or by appropriate legislation under the said Article, it cannot be said that these
observations have laid down even impliedly, that while recruiting judicial
officers either at grass-root level under Article 234 or at district level under
C Article 233 any legislation can be enacted by the Legislature or that the
Governor by independent exercise of his rule making power can m~e such
a provision. This question of controlling recruitment and appointment at the
entry point either at grass-root level i.e. level no.1 or at the apex level being
level no.3 in the pyramid of District Judiciary never arose for consideration
D of the Constitution Bench and hence the aforesaid observations cannot be
considered to be the decision rendered by the Court on this moot point. It
is also easy to visualise that while considering the scope of play of Article
309 vis-a-vis second part of Article 235 which carves out a permissible field
by the very same Article for law to be made for regulating other permissible
conditions <!"(service the term 'recruitment' has been employed almost by way
E of mere reference to the language of Article 309 and nothing more. If it is
held that even impliedly the aforesaid decision of the Constitution Bench has
taken the view that the appropriate authority, i.e. the Governor, in exercise
of his delegated legislative powers under the Proviso to Article 309 or any
State Legislature in exercise of its paramount power under Article 309 first
F part, can control the recruitment of judicial officers at district level or at the
level of Subordinate Judiciary bypassing the High Court, then such an implied
thrust of the said observations must be held to be totally obiter and uncalled
for. Consequently, the aforesaid decision in B.S. Yadav's case (supra) must
be confined to the facts of that case laying down the limited ratio that for
deciding the rule of seniority of already appointed judicial officers in District
G Judiciary or Subordinate JudiCiary, appropriate law or. rules can be framed
under Article 309 by the concerned authority as permissible under second
part of Article 235. That is the only ratio of that decision and it cannot travel
I
any further. I '
',
\ \
H However, leav'lng aside that question, it can easily be visualised that the
\ •,
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 347
aforesaid observations in the Constitution Bench judgment in B.S. Yadav 's A
case (supra) may, in general sense, refer to the concept of 'recruitment' as laid
down by proviso under Article 309 in view of the settled legal position that,
in exercise of their powers under the said Article, the concerned authorities
. can form cadres of service in Subordinate Judiciary and can also create
sanctioned posts in these cadres. The said exercise of creation of posts may
B
also get covered by the concept of "recruitment". It is only in this broad sense
that the term 'recruitment' can be said to have been mentioned by the
Constitution Bench in the aforesaid observations but they can certainly not go
any further nor can be treated to have ruled anything contrary to the express
scheme of Articles 233 and 234. This is the additional reason why the
aforesaid general observations have to be confined to the limited scope a~d c
ambit of Article 309, as indicated therein. For all these reasons, therefore, the
decision in B.S. Yadav's case (supra) cannot be of any real assistance to
learned counsel for the appellant-State.
We may now briefly deal with the main contentions canvassed by
learned senior counsel for the appellant-State in support of their appeals. We D
shall first deal with the contentions canvassed by Dr. Dhavan for the appellant-
State. The interpretation sought to be put on Article 309 by Dr. Dhavan, as
we have already seen earlier, is not capable of having wider coverage so as
to engulf recruitment to judicial offices on district cadre as well as on those
below the district cadre. The Constitutional scheme examined and seen earlier E
contra-indicates this contention. So far as Dr. Dhavan's submission that second
part of Article 235, despite the full control of District Judiciary being vested
in the High Court permits enactment of suitable provisions under Article 309
also, cannot be of any real assistance. As we have already seen above, the
second part of Article 235 deals with the topic of other conditions of service F
including the right of appeal which might be guaranteed to judicial officers by
appropriate legislation enacted by the authorities acting under Article 309 but
that is an operation on the limited field permitted by the second part of Article
235 at second level of the pyramid of Subordinate Judiciary and nothing more.
Dr. Dhavan was right when he contended that on the scheme of Articles 233
to 235 it is not as if other legislation is a total taboo. However, the said
G
submission ignores the fact that it is the limited field earmarked by second part
of Article 235 regarding permissible regulation of conditions of service that
is reserved for operation of Article 309 through its appropriate authorities. But,
save and except this limited aspect which is permitted, the rest of the control
totally vests in the High Court under Article 235 first part. What is permitted H
/,
348 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A by Article 235 cannot be considered as a blanket power entrusted to the
Legislature or to the Governor under Article 309 by the Constitutic;mal makers
dehors the complete net of Constitutional scheme controlling recruitment and
appointment to District Judiciary and the Subordinate Judiciary under Articles
233 and 234 of the Constitution of India. These twin Articles conspicuously
B do not envisage even the limited independent field for operation of Article 309
as is permitted by Article 235 second part. That shows the clear intention
of the Constitutional makers that so far as question of recruitment and
appointment to available vacancies in .the cadre of District Judges and Judges
of the Subordinate Judiciary is concerned, neither the Legislature nor the
Governor, dehors any consultation with the High Court, can have any
c independent say.
We may now deal with the supposed anomalies that may result if the
interpretation canvassed by the respondent High Court is accepted. Dr. Dhavan
contended that, if power of the State Legislature to enact appropriate provisions
D for appointment of members of Subordinate Judiciary is excluded by Article
234, and to' that extent Article 309 is also to be out of picture, then various
anomalous situations may arise. He firstly, submitted that 'judicial service' as
defined by Article 236(b) will get truncated in its operation. It is not possible
to agree with this contention for the simple reason that the definition of
E 'judicial service' only earmarks the Members of that Service. How their
appointment is to be made has to be gathered from Articles 233 and 234. If
they exclude any statutory interference by the State Legislature such interference
would remain excluded by the sweep of these two Articles themselves. The
second anomaly pointed out by Dr. Dhavan is that power to legislate must be
given full effect unless there is express exclusion. Even this cannot be said to
F be an anomaly for the simple reason that Article 309 itself is subject to the
opening part of the clause and has to give way if other Articles of the
Constitution cover the field. The complete Code projected by Articles 233 and
234 would itself be an exclusion of the legislative power and equally the
Governor's independent power under Article 309 qua that field. Even that
G apart, Article 245 dealing with. the legislative powers of Parliament and the
State Legislatures in terms makes the said provisions subject to other provisions
of the Constitution. Therefore, on the same analogy by which Article 309
cannot independently operate qua the exclusive field carved out by Articles
233 and 234, the legislative powers of Parliament as well as the State
H Legislature would also get excluded. The next anomaly pointed out by Dr.
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 349
- Dhavan was that under the Constitution, the scheme of separation of powers
is devised to separate' the Executive from the Judiciary and that this scheme
does not extend to oust the legislative power. If it is held that Article 234 ousts
A
the legislative power for making suitable enactment on the topic covered by
it, then to that extent, it is contended, an anomalous situation would arise not
contemplated by the Constitutional scheme. It is difficult to appreciate this B
contention. As per Article 50 of the Constitution of India, judicial functioning
has to be treated to be separate from that of the executive and to fructify the
said Constitutional scheme, Article 309 is made subject to other relevant
Articles of the Constitution including Articles 233 and 234. Thus Articles 233
and 234 have their full sway not being inhibited by any outside independent
interference to be made by the Governor under proviso to Article 309 or by c
the State Legislature in that connection.
Dr. Dhavan next contended that on the express language of Article 233,
only the rule making power of the Governor is fettered but not the legislative
power of the State. This submission is mis-conceived as the legislative power D
is co-terminus with the Governor's rule making power. For regulating the
conditions of Service of Members of public service as found in Article 309,
as the proviso to Article 309 itself shows, what the legislature can enact in
connection with the topic .mentioned therein can be done by the Governor in
exercise of his rule making power as a stop-gap arrangement till the very same E
field is covered by the statutory enactment. Thus the earmarked field is the
same, namely, conditions of Service of employees of State Public Service.
Employees of a Public Service are a genus of which Members of Judicial
Service are a species. So far as the appointment to Judicial Service is
concerned, the said topic is carved out from the general sweep of Article 309
on account of the words in its opening part, read with Articles 233 and 234.
F
The Governor's rule making power in this connection is separately dealt with
under Article 234 and it is the procedure laid down therein which will govern
the said rule making power of the Governor and cannot draw any sustenance
independently from Article 309 which gets excluded in its own terms so far
as Members of Judicial Service are concerned. A limited play available to the G
Legislature to deal with unexcepted and open categories of conditions of
Service of judicial officers as found in Second Part of Article 235, therefore,
cannot be read backwards to govern even bylmplication the method of
appointment of Members of Subordinate Judiciary even at the grass-root level.
For that purpose, Article 234 is the only repository of the power available to H
350 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A · the concerned Conslltutional authority which has to follow the gamut of the
procedure laid down. therein. Dr. Dhavan tried to salvage the situation by
submitting that if this view is taken, the greatest anomaly that would arise is
that there would be total ouster of legislative interference as per _Article 234.
There wHl be definite permissible interference of legislative· power on topics
mentioned in second part of Article 235. While so far l!.S appointments of
B
District Judges under Article 233 are concerned, there is no express ouster of
'legislative interference at all. He, therefore, submitted that a totally anomalous
situation "'.ould emerge, as at the grass~root level i.e. lowest rung of regulating
the recruitment and appointment of Judiciary, there will be total exclusion of
legislative interference while at the apex level i.e. at the district level there will
c be no ouster of legislative interference. Even this argument of despair cannot
be countenanced for the simple reason that on the topic of appointment of
direct recruits to the District Judiciary at the district court level or even at the
grass-root level of Munsiffs and Civil Judges-junior division or senior division,
as the case may be, both under Article 234 as well as under Article 233
D interfer_ence by the State Legislature is totally excluded. If appointments at the
grass-root level in Subordinate Judiciary is taken as base level no. l in the
pyramid of Subordinate Judiciary, as indicated earlier, then the' express
language of Article 234 lays down a complete procedure which cannot be
tinkered with by any outside agency like the legislature. For regulatirrg· the
E service conditions of already appointed judi~ial officers which will b'e.~e~tt¥
as level no.2, to the extent to which the conditions of service can be reg~lated
by law as laid down by second part of Articles 235 a limited field is kept1open
for legislative play. It is only because of the permissible field indicated by the
very same Article that the Governor under Article 309 or even the State
Legislature can be permitted to operate in that field. While at the apex level
F
of the pyramid of Subordinate Judiciary, which is level no.3, for recruiting
District Judges a complete Code is furnished by Article 233 excluding outside
interference, as indicated earlier. Thus neither at the base level i.e. at the grass-
root level of controlling entry point to Subordinate Judiciary nor at the entry
point at the apex level of the pyramid for appointing District Judges any State
G Legislature's interference is contemplated or countenanced. On the contrary,
it is contra-indicated by necessary implication. Thus, neither at the first level
nor at the third level, both dealing with entry points to Subordinate Judiciary,
the State Legislature has any say and at the second level it has a limited say
to the extent permitted by the very same Article 235 second part and which
H does not pertain to recruitment or appointments at all. Thus, it cannot mean
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH LS.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 351
that because of this limited independent play at the joint is available to the. , A
authoritie's functioning under Article 309 at the second level to frame rules ·or
legislation for permissively regulating the conditions of service of the members
of the judiciary who have already entered the Judicial Service at the grass-root
level, or even at the district level,· any anomalous situation emerges.
B
Dr. Dhavan then invited our attention to the observations of a nine-
Judge Constitution Bench judgment of this Court in Indra Sawhney & Ors.
case (supra), para 694 at page 662, para 738 at page 689 and para 788 at page
720, for submitting that Article 16 sub-article (4) enables the State authorities
to direct reservation in. Services under the State. This Constitutional power,
once exercised, cannot be sought to be circumscribed or curtailed by non-
c
compliance with the procedure of Article 234 or for that matter Article 233.
This argument of his cannot be countenanced. It is obvious that for utilising
the enabling power under Article 16(4), the State Legislature cannot enter the
forbidden field and conflict with substantive provisions of Article 233 or first
part of Article 235. Meaning thereby, neither can it lay down new criterion of D
eligibility contrary to sub-article (2) of Article 233 for appointment to the
District Judiciary nor can it affect the control of the High Court in connection
with District Judiciary as vested in the High Court under first part of Article
235. If at all any reservation policy under Article 16(4) is to be pursued, it has
to be exercised in consonance with the scheme of Articles 233 and 234 and E
not dehors it. Dr. Dhavan fairly conceded that neither in the Rules of 1951
regarding appointments to district cadre as per Article 233 nor under the Rules
of 1955 for appointments in the cadre of Subordinate Judiciary as laid down
by Article 234, there is any provision for 50% reservation of posts. As already
noted .earlier, Article 16(4) is an enabling provision and it enables the
competent authority which is entrusted with the task of recruitment and
F
appointment to any service including the Judicial Service to exercise this
enabling power and provide for appropriate reservation. In fact there is no
dispute between the parties in these proceedings that with the consent of the
High Court of Patna, 14% reservation for SC and 10% reservation for STs is
already accepted as permissible reservation for direct recruitment at the grass- G
root level and Rule 20 of the Rules of 1955 clearly points to such reservation,
percentage of which has already been agreed to between the High Court on
the one hand and the Government on the other. That would be perfectly a
permissible exercise under Article 16(4) read with Article 234. But beyond
that unless the rules are properly amended by following the procedure of H
352 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [200012 S.C.R.
-· A Articles 233 and 234 read with Article 309 after consulting the High Court,
the Governor on his own cannot provide for any more reservation. Nor can,
by a legislative Act, an independent provision under Article 16(4) totally
bypassing the High Court be resorted to. As already seen earlier, Article 16(4)
has to be read with Article 335 and maintenance of efficiency of administration
B in the making of appointments to Services and posts would be a sine qua non
before considering the claim for reservation of SC and STs which would also
include the OB Cs as laid down by a Constitution Bench judgment of this Court
in Indra Sawhney's case (supra), [2000) 1 SCC 168 = IT (1999) 9 SC 557.
If Article 16(4) has to be read with Article 335 as already ruled by the
Constitution Bench judgment of this Court, the same authority which can have
c the pulse and fµll control of administration pertaining to concerned services
having sufficient expertise can avail of the aforesaid Article 16(4) keeping in
view the mandate of Article 335. In case of Subordinate Judicial Services
comprising of district courts and courts subordinate thereto, the full control
vests in the High Court under Article 235 which can control the promotions
D and postings of such members of the Judiciary. It is the High Court which will
have full knowledge and expertise for deciding the question of adequacy of
representation by way of reservation in Judicial Service. Therefore, it is the
High Court only which can give green signal regarding the extent of such
reservations at entry points as candidates entering on reserved posts in Judicial
E Service of the District Judiciary both at the apex level and at the grass-root
level have to act under its control. In the absence of such a green signal by
the High Court there would be no occasion to invoke Article 16(4) read with
Article 335. We fail to appreciate how the State Legislature by enacting
Section 4 of the Act, can decide for itself that 50% reservation is required to
be made in appointments to District and Subordinate Judiciary consistent with
F the maintenance of efficiency of judicial administration which is under full
control of the High Court as per Article 235. As it cannot of its own be alive
to this vital aspect lacking requisite knowledge and expertise, any scheme of
reservation framed by the legislature under Article 16(4) dehors Article 335
so far as judicial appointments are concerned, must necessarily fall through.
G The authority giving green signal as per Article 16(4) read with Article 335
can be only the High Court. It will be totally out of picture so far as enactment
of such straight jacket reservation provisions dehors the High Court's
consultation goes. In this view of the matter, the broad submission of Dr.
Dhavan that reservation in fulfilment of right to equality of opportunity under
H Article 16(1) read with Article 16(4) can be resorted to without reference to
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 353
the High Court and therefore, the impugned Act cannot be found fault with, A
cannot be accepted.
Reliance placed by Dr. Dhavan to the decision of this Court in
Durgacharan Misra v. State of Orissa & Ors., [1987] 4 SCC 646, wherein at
para 15 a two Judge Bench observed that Rules under Article 234 are framed
by the Governor, in exercise of his rule making power under Article 309, B
cannot be of any assistance to him. Even if the rules contemplated by Article
234 are framed by the Governor under Article 309 proviso, that power is
clearly fettered and regulated by Article 234 as well as Article 233 wherein
consultation of the High Court in one case and total clearance by the High
Court by way of recommendation of the appointees in the other case, .cannot C
be given a go by.
Turning to the contentions canvassed by Shri Dwivedi in support of the
-::Companion appeal, it may be stated that he adopted the arguments of Dr.
Dhavan but he further contended that under Article 234, the rule making
power of the Governor is hedged in by consultation with the High Court and D
the Public Service Commission. So far as the Public Service Commission is
concerned, as per Article 320 sub-article (4), it is not required to be consulted
in respect of the manner in which any provision referred to in clause (4) of
Article 16 may be made or as respects the manner in which effect may be
given to the provisions of Article 335. Shri Dwivedi, therefore, submitted that
consultation with the Public Service Commission cannot be in connection with E
Article 16(4) and if that is so, by necessary implication, consultation with the
High Court under Article 234 can also be treated to be standing at par and
consequently the decision on any policy of reservation as per Article 16(4)
need not get covered by any consultation with the High Court. It is difficult
to appreciate this contention. The Public Service Commission is merely an F
examining body which examines the candidates for seeking appointments to
the advertised posts. It has, therefore, nothing to do with the policy decision
of laying down of reservation in appointments to the posts. That policy has
to be resorted to under Article 16(4) by the authority calling upon the Public
Service Commission to proceed with the procedure of selection of suitable
G
candidates for filling up advertised posts subject to the conditions laid down
in the advertisement. That type of consultation naturally would not stand at
par with the consultation with the High Court as laid down by Article 234 of
the Constitution.
As seen earlier, consultation with the High Court as envisaged by Article H
354 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A 234 is for fructifying the Constitutional mandate of preserving the independence
of Judiciary, which is its basic structure. The Public Service Commission has
no such Constitutional imperative to be fulfilled. The scope of examining
body's consultation can never be equated with that of consultation with the
appointing body whose agent is the former. It is also pertinent to note that the
B essence of consultation is the communication of a genuine invitation to give
advice and a genuine consideration of that advice which in tum depends on
sufficient information and time being given to the party concerned to enable
it to tender useful advice. It is difficult to appreciate how the Governor while
consulting the Public Service Commission before promulgating the Rules of
Recruitment under Article 234 has to solicit similar type of advice as he would
c solicit from the High Court on due consultation. The advice which in the
process of consultation can be tendered by the Public Service Commission will
confine itself to the Constitutional requirements of Article 320. They are
entirely different from the nature of consultation and advice to be solicited
from the High Court which is having full control o_ver Subordinate Judiciary
D under Article 235 of the Constitution and is directly concerned. with the
drafting of efficient judicial appointments so that appropriate material will be
available to it through the process of selection both at the grass-root level and
at the apex level of the District Judiciary. Consultation, keeping in view the
role of the High Court under Article 234 read with Article 235, stands on an
E entirely different footing as compared to the consultation with the Public
Service Commission which has to discharge its functions of entirely different
type as envisaged by Article 320 of the Constitution.
Naturally, therefore, consultation with the High Court will have a direct
linkage with the policy decision as to how many posts should be advertised,
F what are the felt needs of District Judiciary and whether there can be any
reservation which can be permitted to be engrafted in the Rules framed by the
Governor consistent with the maintenance of efficiency of judicial administration
in the State. It is also pertinent to note that there is no express fetter regarding
consultation with the High Court excluding Article 16(4) as we find in Article
---G 320 (4) in connection with the Public Service Commission's consultation. This
very departure and absence of such exclusion of the High Court's consultation
indicate the intention of the Constitution makers that policy decision as per
Article 16(4) has to be taken by the Governor in consultation with the High
Court while framing appropriate rules governing the recruitment and
H appointments to the Judicial Service both at the apex level and at the grass-
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 355
.
root level. Submission of Shri Dwivedi that legislative power stands A
independently and de hors Articles 235 and 234 cannot be c.ountenanced for
the detailed reasons given by us while rejecti~g the contentions of Dr. Dhavan.
Shri Dwivedi's effort to draw sustenance for his argument from the observations
of the learned Judges of the Constitution Bench in Indra Sawhney's case
(supra) namely, Justice Pandian's observations at para 243, Justice Sawant at B
para 555 and Justice Kuldip Singh in para 383, also cannot be of any avail
to him. The question of reservation of posts in a cadre cannot be equated with
the question of creation of posts in a cadre. After the posts in a cadre are
created how many thereof can be filled in from general category and how
many from reserved category candidates, will remain a policy decision which
has to be undertaken under Article 16(4) read with Article 331; and bnly by C
the competent authority namely, the High Court in dialogue with the Governor
so far as Judicial Service is concerned, as we have seen earlier. The
observations of learned Judges in the aforesaid Indra Sawhney's case (supra)
therefore, regarding the scope and ambit of Article 16(4) in general in
connection with those services wherein such reservation would be effected by D
the competent authorities themselves without consultation with other agencies
like the High Court, cannot be of any avail to Shri Dwivedi for culling out
the competence of· the authority concerned to impose such reservation in
connection with Judicial Services without consulting the High Court. Reliance
placed by learned counsel for the appellant-State on various rules framed by E
Governors of other States in consultation with High Courts like the Uttar
Pradesh Governor also cannot be of any avail as those rules are framed by the
Governors in consultation with the High Courts after following the procedure
of Articles 234 or for '1¥t matter Article 233. Decisions of this Court relied
on by Shri Dwivedi for sb~wing that the Governor can create cadres and also
can lay down provisions for regulating the conditions of Service as provided
F
under Article 235 second part also are besides the point. The effort made by
learned counsel for the appellant-State to show that Judicial Service also
represents a part of State Service and it is the 'State' within the meaning of
Article 12 amenable to writ jurisdiction under Article 226 so far as the
administrative decisions taken by the courts are concerned also cannot solve G
the problem which is posed for our consideration. The High-Court may be an
'authority' within the meaning of Article 12, its administrative decisions may
be subject to its writ jurisdiction on judicial side but that does not mean that ·
for recruiting judicial officers for manning Judicial Services, the say of the
High Court can be totally bypassed by enacting provisions like the impugned H
356 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2000] 2 S.C.R.
A Act by the State Legislature which, while enacting this statute, · was not
expected to consult any one else including the High Court.
Of course, Shri Dwivedi ·was right when he contended that in Civil
Appeal No. 9072 of 1996 there was no occasion for the High Court to treat
the policy reflected by the stand of the High Court regarding giving preference
B in appointments to SC and ST candidates if they are of equal merit with
general category candidates as the only reasonable one. It is true that this
exercise was not required to be undertaken by the High Court which was
concerned with the short question as to whether the impugned Act, especially
Section 4 thereof, can be permitted to operate of its own so far as the
c recruitment to District Judiciary was concerned. To that extent, the aforesaid
reasoning of the High Court in the impugned judgment cannot be sustained
as being redundant and uncalled for.
We may now briefly refer to the written submissions on behalf of the
appellant-State submitted by Shri Dwivedi on 20th January, 2000. As we have
D already discussed earlier, it is not possible for us to agree with the contention
that reservation of posts does not truncate the High Court's power of making
appointments on available vacancies. In cases where reservations are made
after consultation with the High Court, the situation stands entirely on a
different footing as the High Court itself a_grees with the rule making authority
E under Article 234 or for that matter under Article 233 to recommend reserved
category candidates on earmarked vacancies in the already created posts in a
cadre. But the question is as to whether bypassing the High Court such an
exercise can be undertaken by the State Legislature or by the Governor under
Article 309. As seen earlier, such an exercise is not countenanced by the
relevant Constitutional scheme: It is also not possible to agree with the
F
contention that in the absence of express exclusion of any law made by the
Legislature, the legislative power remains untouched by Articles 233 and 234.
On the contrary, as seen earlier, because of the opening words of Article 309
as well as Article 245 what is provided by Articles 233 and 234 is a complete
Code, which cannot be touched independently of the High Court's consultation
G either by the Legislature or by the rule making authority. Reliance placed on
the observations in paras 16 & 17 in the case of M.M. Gupta & Ors. etc. v.
State of Jammu & Kashmir & Ors., (supra) to the effect that appointing
authority is the Governor also cannot advance the case of Shri Dwivedi for
the simple reason that under the scheme of Articles 234 and 233 once effective
consultation is made with the High Court and rules are framed as per Article
H
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 357
234 and selections are made as per these rules or when the High Court A
recommends appointments under Article 233, the selection process is over,
only the ministerial work of issuing actual appointment orders may be carried
out by the Governor. But that would not, in any case, interfere with the
independence of Judiciary and the power of the High Court. The Governor,
acting as per Article 234 while framing rules in consultation with the High
B
Court and the Public Service Commission and also while acting on ~he
recommendation of the High Court under Article 233, only performs the
ultimate act of issuing actual appointment orders to the selectees but these
selectees have undergone the process of filtering by the High Court as per
Article 233(2) or in cases governed by Article 234, as per the procedure laid
down in the rules framed under that Article, after consultation with the High c
Court. It is not as if the Council of Ministers or the Legislature has anything
independently to say to the Governor in this connection bypassing the High
Court. Reference to the case in Samsher Singh Etc. v. State of Punjab & Am:
etc., AIR (197 4) SC 2192, about Cabinet's responsibility to Legislature is
totally besides the point while considering the moot question with which we
D
are concerned. It is difficult to appreciate on the scheme of Articles 233 to 235
the contention of Shri Dwivedi that recruitment procedure could be laid down
either by the Legislative enactment or rules under Article 309 without having
consultation with the High Court. Further contention of Shri Dwivedi that
Parliamentary system of governance is also a basic feature of the Constitution
also cannot advance his case for the simple reason that Article 235 itself read E
with Article 309 furnishes restraints on the legislative power so far as topics
of recruitment and appointment to District Judiciary and Subordinate Judiciary
are concerned being covered by the complete code of Articles 233 and 235,
as seen earlier. The dichotomy sought to be suggested between the process of
selection for recruitment to advertised posts on the one hand and reservation F
of posts in a cadre on the other by Shri Dwivedi is not a real one. As already
seen earlier, recruitment and appointments have to be done to already created
posts in the cadre and once the procedure of creation of posts is over, the
further question as to how these posts are to be filled in and from which source
or category of candidates, will entirely depend upon the rules framed by the
Governor in consultation with the High Court, so far as Article 234 is G
concerned and will wholly be subject to the recommendations of the High
Court under Article 233. The submission of Shri Dwivedi that cadre formation
is in the exclusive domain of the government and forms part of constitution
of State Judicial Service, cannot have any impact on the moot question as to
how created posts in a given cadre can be filled in and from which category H
358 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A of candidates. Thal remains essentially in the domain of recruitment and
appointment to already existing, created and sanctioned posts in a given cadre.
Reliance placed on Articles 37, 38 and 46 read with Article 16(4) cannot have
any impact on the decision of the question posed for our consideration.
Reliance placed by Shri Dwivedi on the decisions of this Court in Indra
B Sawhney's case (supra), Dr. Preeti Srivastava & Anr. etc. v. State· of M.P. &
Ors. etc., [1999] 7 sec 120 and in Durgachara11 Misra V. State of Orissa &
Ors. (supra) also cannot be of any effective help for resolving the question
with which we are concerned. The general scheme of reservation and to what
extent it can be applied to a given service directly under the control of the State
without any reference to Judicial Service, as discussed in the first two cases,
c can be of no avail to Shri Dwivedi. So far as the oase of Smt. A. Lakshmikutty
(supra) is concerned, the relevant observations in the concerned paragraphs do
not support the submissions put forward by Shri Dwivedi for the appellant-
State. Even if Judicial Service is also a State Public Service and hence a
'Service' under the State as laid down therein, so as to attract Articles 12 and
D 226 of the Constitution, the question which remains for consideration is as to
whether the scheme of recruitment and appointment to the Subordinate
Judiciary as laid down by the Constitution itself can be encroached upon,
whittled down or cut across by any enactment or rule de hors the said
Constitutional scheme. Smt. A. Lakshmikutty's judgment (supra) had not to
E consider that question. Even though judicial officer in the Judicial Service of
the State would be an officer under the State and according to which principle,
to a limited extent, the conditions of service of said judicial officer can be laid -·
down by the State or the Governor under Article 309 independently of the
High Court as per the second part of Article 235, so far as Articles 233 and
234 are concerned as already seen earlier, they stand entirely on a different
F footing and do not countenance any independent encroachment on the field
covered by the said provisions bypassing the High Court. There cannot be any
dispute that laying down of pay-scales as one of the conditions of Service
under the second part of Article 235 is not within the expression of 'control'
which is vested in the High Court as laid down in Smt. Lakshmikutty's case
G (supra). But it is difficult to appreciate how reservation can be treated on par
with laying down of pay scales. Making available pay-scales to the members
of the Judicial Service will have a direct impact on the State exchequer and
Consolidated Fund of State in case of District Judiciary but that does not mean
that the recruitment to such judicial posts also can be controlled by the State,
H de hors the requirements of Articles 233 and 234.1rhe next written submission
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 359
of Shri Dwivedi placing reliance on a judgment of this Court in the Belsund A
Sugar Co. Ltd. v. The State of Bihar & Ors. etc., JT (1999) 5 SC 422, that
reservations are a special topic and, therefore, the general expression of
'appointments' would not embrace, the same cannot be accepted for the simple
reason that once posts are created and sanctioned in a cadre, to the extent to
which any independent order or direction under Article 309 or Article 16(4) B
encroaches upon the field of recruitment and appointment to such posts,
specially carved out by the Constitution makers for operation by the Governor
in consultation with the High Court or with the concurrence or recommendation
of the High Court, as the case may be, the said encroachment would remain
totally ultra vires and cannot be saved by provisions of reservation envisaged
by Article 16(4). Reliance placed by Shri Dwivedi on a decision of this Court c
in Chandra Mohan's case (supra) to show that there is no complete separation
of powers has to be appreciated in the light of the observations made therein
in connection with the nature of permissible field for operation of state
authorities under Article 235(2). These observations have nothing to do with
the complete separation of powers between the Judiciary and the Executive so D
far as initial recruitment at entry points in Subordinate Judiciary up to district
level is concerned. Even if rules under Article 234 can be said to have been
framed by the Governor of the concerned State, on a conjoint reading of
Articles 234 and 309 the fact remains that these rules, in order to be effective,
have to satisfy the Constitutional requirement of the procedure laid down E
therein for their promulgation. The alternative 'contention that when the State
sends a proposal to the High Court for introducing reservations, the High
Court is bound to carry out the mandate of Articles 15(4), 16(4), 38 and 46
of the Constitution, and should respond with such duty-consciousness, cannot
be of any avail on the facts of the present case as we are not concerned wi.th
such a situation. The rules framed under Articles 233 and 234 by the Bihar
F
Government in consultation with the High Court are not on the anvil of
scrutiny. The only short question with which we are concerned is whether in
the absence of appropriate provision being made in these rules, the State
Legislature can intervene on its own bypassing the High Court and lay down
a rule of thumb by way of fixed quota of reservation in all the posts in the G
Subordinate Judiciary. The Mandal Commission Report has nothing to do with
the question with which we are concerned. Even if adequate representations
of reserved category of candidates for appointment to Judiciary may be a
laudable object, it has to be kept in view that whatever is right has to be done
in a right manner or not at all. Even in the present case 24% reservation for H
L
360 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A SC and ST candidates at grass-root level in Judiciary has already been agreed
to by the High Court and the appointments are accordingly being made since
years. The only question is whether by Section 4 of the im1mgned Act that
percentage of reservation can be increased to 50% by bringing other reserved
categories like the Other Backward.Classes, completely bypassing the High
B Court and without there being any need to consult it. Such a legislative Act
cannot be countenanced on the touchstone of relevant Articles of the
Constitution. This question cannot be answered in the light of the supposed
Constitutional philosophy underlying the scheme of reservation for weaker
sections of the community in general terms.
c It is now time for us to refer to the judgments of this Court and other
· High Courts on which reliance was placed by learned counsel for the
contesting parties in support of their respective cases. A three-Judge Bench of
this Court in the case of M.M. Gupta's case (supra), speaking through Shri
R.S. Pathak, J. (as he then was), while considering the question of independence
D of judiciary, has clearly ruled·that any scheme of appointment to judicial posts
by the executive at the State and the Centra!Jevel, without consulting the High
Court, would clearly affect the independence of judiciary. Pertinent observations
in this connection are found in paras 33 and 34. The relevant portions thereof
read as under:
E
" .... Independence of the judiciary is one of the basic tenets and a
fundamental requirement of our Constitution. Various Articles in our
Constitution contain the relevant provisions for safeguarding the
independence of the Judiciary. Article 50 of the Constitution which
lays down that "the State shall take steps to separate the judiciary from
F the executive in the public services of the State", postulates separation
of the judiciary from the executive.
Unfortunately, for some time past there appears to be an unhappy
trend of interference in the matter of judicial appointments by the
G executive both at the State and the Central level... .. Article 235 of the
Constitution vests the control of judicial administration completely in
the High Court excepting in the matter of initial appointment and
posting of District Judges and the dismissal, removal or termination
of services of these officers. Even in these matters the requirement
H of the Constitution is that the Governor must act in consultation with
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 361
the High Court. If in the matter of appointment, the High Court A
is sought to be ignored and the executive authority chooses to
make the appointment, independence of the judiciary will be af-
fected ....... "
In the light of the aforesaid settled legal position, therefore, there
cannot be any escape from the conclusion that if the process of appointment B
to Subordinate Judiciary at district level or grass-root level is tried to be
.~ circumscribed or truncated by any direction as to reservation of available
vacancies for a given category of candidates it would certainly impinge upon
the power of the High Court in suggesting appointment of suitable candidates
to fill up the posts of judicial officers with a view to fructify the goal of C
furnishing effective mechanism of judicial administration and making the
Judiciary fully vibrant, effective and result-oriented. Such an independent
Judiciary is the heart of the Constitutional scheme, as already discussed
earlier.
In the case of All India Judges' Association & Ors. (supra), the special D
features of Judicial Services have been clearly earmarked in the light of
Articles 233, 234, 2315 and 309. A three-Judge Bench of this Court, speaking
through Sawant, J., while disposing of the Review Petitions by the Union of
India and Officers of the States, has made the following apposite observations
in paras 4 & 5 : E
"The judicial service is not service in the sense of 'employment'. The
judges are not employees. As members of the judiciary, they exercise
the sovereign judicial power of the State. They are holders of public
offices in the same way as the members of the council of ministers
and the members of the legislature. When it is said that in a F
democracy such as ours, the executive, the legislature and the
judiciary constitute the three pillars of the State, what is intended
to be conveyed is that the three essential functions of the State are
entrusted to the three organs of the State and each one of them in
iurn represents the authority of the State. However, those who G
exercise the State-power are the ministers, the legislators and the
judges, and not the members of their staff who implement or assist
in implementing their decisions. The council of ministers or the
• political executive is different from the secretarial staff or the
administrative executive which carnes out the decisions of the H·
362 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A political executive. Similarly, the legislators are different from the
legislative staff. So also the Judges from the judicial staff. The parity
is between the political executive, the legislators and the Judges and
not between the Judges and administrative executive. This distinction
between the Judges and the members of the other services has to be
B constantly kept in mind for yet another important reason. Judicial
independence cannot be secured by making mere solemn proclama-
tions about it. It has to be secured both in substance a~d in practice.
It is trite to say that those who are in want cannot be free. Self-reliance
is the foundation of independence. The society has a stake in ensuring
the independence of the judiciary, and no price is too heavy to secure
c it. To keep the judges in want of the essential accoutrements and thus
to impede them in the proper discharge of their duties is to impair and
whittle away justice itself.
(para 4)
D
It is high time that all concerned appreciated that there cannot be
any link between the service conditions of th€judges and those of the
members of the other services. It is true that under Art. 309 of the
·Constitution, the recruitment and conditions of service of the mem-
bers of the subordinate judiciary are to be regulated by the Acts of
E the appropriate legislature and pending such legislation, the President
and the Governor or their nominees, as the case may be, are
empowered to make rules regulating their recruitment and the con-
ditions of service. It is also true that after the Council of States makes
the necessary declaration under Art. 312, it is the Parliament which
F is empowered to create an All India Judicial Service which will
include posts not inferior to the post of District Judge as defined under
Art. 236. However, this does not mean that while determining the
service conditions of the members of the Judiciary, a distinction
should not be made between them and the members of the other
Services or that the _,_service conditions of the members of all the
G Services should be the same. As it is, even among the other Services,
a distinction is drawn in the matter of their service conditions. The
linkage between the service conditions of the judiciary and that of the
administrative executive was an historical accident. The erstwhile •
rulj:!rs constituted only one service viz., the Indian Civil Service for
H recruiting candidates for the Judicial as well as the Administrative
-
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.]
. 363
Service and it is from among the successful candidates in the A
examination held for such recruitment, that some were sent to the
administrative side while others to the judicial side. Initially, there was
also no clear demarcation between the judicial and executive services
and the same officers used to perform judicial and executive func-
tions. Since the then government had failed to make the distinction
B
between the two services right from the stage of the recruitment, ~fs
logical consequences in terms of the service conditions could not~~
avoided. With the inauguration of the Constitution and the separation
of the State power distributed among the three branches, the continu-
ation of the linkage has become anachronistic and is inconsistent with
the constitutional provisions. The parity in status is no longer between c
the Judiciary and the administrative executive but between the
judiciary and the political executive. Under the Constitution, the
judiciary is above the administrative executive and any attempt to
place it on par with the administrative executive has to be discour-
aged. The failure to grasp this simple truth is responsible for the
D
contention that the service conditions of the judiciary -ffiust be
comparable to those of the administrative executive and any amelio-
ration in the service conditions of the former must necessarily lead
to the comparable improvement in the service conditions of the
latter."
E
(para 5)
In our view, the aforesaid decision of the three Judge Bench on the relevant
scheme of the Constitution, especially, Articles 234 to 236 and 309 remains
well sustained and clearly indicates how Judicial Service, though being a part
of the general Service of the State, stands of its own and cannot countenance F
any encroachment on it as it is based on the principle of independence of
Judiciary from the executive and/or legislative save and except to the limited
extent permitted by second part of Article 235 of the Constitution. Otherwise
the basic feature of independence of Judiciary will get eroded. The submission
of Shri Dwivedi in this connection that even Tribunals have got trappings of G
judicial power and decide lis between the parties also is besides the point while
1
considering the question as to how appointments to the lower Judiciary in the
strict sense of the term is to be effected. Once on this aspect the Constitutional
scheme is clear, it has got to be given its full effect.
We may now refer to Judgments of some of the High Courts to which H
364 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A our attention was invited by learned senior counsel Shri Thakur for the
respondent High Court. In the case of K.N. Chandra Sekhara & Ors. v. State
of Mysore & Ors., AIR (1963) Mysore 292 (V 50 C 68), a Division Bench
of the High Court of My&ore was concerned with the question whether
contrary to the statutory rules framed by the Governor under Article 234 read
with Article 309 of the Constitution of India, laying down the criteria for
B
recruitment to the cadre of Munsiffs in Judicial Service of the State, the Public
Service Commission of its own can fix different criteria of passing marks for
candidates belonging to SC and . ST as compared to higher
passing marks for general category of candidates. Answering this question in
the negative, Somnath Iyer, J., speaking for the Division Bench observed that:
c
"Article 234 excepts out of the operation of Art. 309, appointments
to Judicial Service and constitutes the Governor in a sense a· select
legislative organ for enactment of rules for that purpose."
D· - · . Tlie· aforesaid observations will, of course, have to be re;:id down in the
light of the Constitution Be~~h -decision of this Court in B.S. Yadav's case
(supra). The next Judgment placed'for our consideration by Shri Thakur is
another Division Bench judgment in M.I. Nadafv. The State of Mysore & Anr.,
AIR (1967) Mysore 77 (V 54 C 21). In that case another Division Bench of
the Mysore High Court, speaking through K.S.Hegde, J. (as he then was), had
E.
to consider the question whether once rules are framed under Article 234 read
with Article 309 of the Constitution of India for governing the recruitment of
Munsiffs any other independent rule pertaining to general conditions of
Service and laying down a different eligibility criterion for a candidate to be
considered for such recruitment could be countenanced. In that case, the
F general rules framed under Article 309 applicable to all State Services
permitted clubbing of temporary Service of candidates under the Government
or holding a post under local authority with the Service on regular basis for
deciding about the requisite experience of the concerned candidate for such
posts. Though the· General Rules provided to the aforesaid effect, the rules
G framed under Articles 234 and 309 did not do so. Question was whether the
General Rules could cut across the rules framed under Article 234, the former
not having been made in consultation with the High Court. Negativing the
contention that these General Rules which were framed under Article 309
without reference to the High Court could operate in connection with
H appointment of judicial officers at grass-root level as governed by the rules
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 365
under Article 234, Hegde, J., made relevant observations in this connection at A
pages 78 and 79 in paras 9 and 10 of the Report as under :
"Article 309 of the Constitution empowers the Governor to make
rules regulating the recruitment and the conditions of services of
persons appointed to the Civil Services of the State. But that Article,
as its opening words themselves indicate, is subject to the other
B
provisions of the Constitution. Article 234 is one such provision. The
power of the Governor to make rules under Article 309 of the
Constitution is not only subject to the other provisions of the
Constitution, but it is also subject to any Act of the appropriate
Legislature. But the rules to be made by. him under Article 234 are C1
not subject to any Act that may be enacted by the appropriate
Legislalure. But they can be made only after consultation with the
State Public Service Commission and the High Court. The consulta-
tion with the High Court is not something nominal. It is the very
essence of the matter. It must be borne in mind that our Constitution D
visualises the separation of the judiciary from the executive. It is ~o. , ... ··
doubt true that the judicial service is also one of the States· serviCe.
But it has got its own individualistic character. Unlike the other
services of the State, the judicial service is expected to be independent
of the executive. Often times, it has to pronounce on the correctness
or the legality of the action taken by the other services of the State. E
There are occasions when it is required to pronounce on the legality
of an action taken by the Government or even the Governor. Such
being the case, it would not be proper to consider the judicial branch
as being just one of the branches of the State. It is for that reason,
the Constitution makers thought it proper to make separate provisions F
for the appointment of judicial Officers .
.:... Our view that appointments to judicial services of the State other
than that of the District Judges should be made only in accordance
with the rules made by the Governor under Article 234 of the
Constitution after consultation with the State Public Service Commis- G
sion and the High Court exercising jurisdiction in relation to such
State and not under rules framed by him under Article 309 of the
Constitution is also supported by the decision of the Madras High
Court in N. Devasahayam v. State of Madras, AIR 1958 Mad. 53 and
that. of the Rajasthan High Court in Rajvi Amar Singh v. State of H
366 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A Rajasthan, AIR (1956) Raj .104."
In our view, the aforesaid decision of the Mysore High Court is well sustained
in the light of the Constitutional scheme as culled out by a series of decisions
·of this Court to which we have made reference earlier.
B A Division Bench of the Orissa High Court in the case of Manoj Kumar
Pande v. State of Orissa & Ors., (1982) Lab. LC. 1826, speaking through
R.N.Misra, CJ. (as he then was) had to consider an identical question which
is posed for our consideration in the present proceedings. The Orissa Judicial
Service Rules framed under Article 234 read with Article 309 provided a
C scheme of reservation for SC and ST candidates. The .said scheme was tried
to be cut across by the Orissa Legislature by enacting the Orissa Act 38 of
1975. Question was whether such a legislative exercise dehors Article 234 and
in exercise of powers under Articles 245 and 246 was permissible. Even
though parties had settled their dispute, the High Court examined this vital
question of great public importance which may ex-facie be treated to be. a
D
obiter decision but which, in our view, is fully sustained by the Constitutional
scheme examined by us in the present case in the light of decided cases of this
Court. It was observed, in this connection, by Misra, CJ, in para 5 of the
Report as under :
E "The Orissa Rules of 1964 are specially made for recruitment to
judicial service. And since in some Articles of the Constitution rules
have been made subject to legislation while in other Articles like Art.
234, the rules have not been made subject to legislation, a distinction
must be maintained between the two sets of rules. Where the
Constitution specifically vests power in the Governor to make rules
F
and does not make his rules subject to legislation, it must follow that
the Constitution has intended those rules to be final on the subject
specified.
Thus, in view of the specific provision in Art. 234 authorising
G the Governor to make rules for the purpose of appointment and in the
instant case such rules having been made viz. Orissa Rules of 1961,
it must follow that the power given to the State Legislature under Arts.
234, 245, and 246 (3) of the Constitution would be subject to the
provisions of Art. 234, in view of a non obstante clause appearing
H at the beginning of Art. 245(1). And in the result Orissa Act 38 of
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 367
1975 is not to apply to judicial service covered by Art. 234 of the AI
Constitution so far as appointment is concerned."
A similar view is also taken by the Allahabad High Court in the case of
Farzand v. Mohan Singh & Ors., AIR (1968) All. 67 (V 55 C 18). In para 31
of the Report at page 74 it was observed as under :
B
"The intention behind taking out the provisions relating to subordi-
nate courts from Part XIV of the Constitution and putting them in Part
VI, seems to be to make the consultation with the High Court in the
matter of framing of the rules, really effective and thus to secure the
independence of the subordinate Judiciary from executive. [See AIR
(1966) SC 1987 (Para 14)). Under the proviso to Art. 309 the
c
Governor is competent to frame rules relating to recruitment as well
as condition of service. The rules made by the Governor operate only
until a provision in that behalf is made by an Act of the Legislature.
The legislature while making an Act under Art. 309 is not required
even by Art. 234, to consult any one. The provision for consultation D
with the High Court would become nugatory as soon as the legislature
acted to enact. To avoid this and to keep the rules governing
recruitment to the judicial service outside the purview of the State
legislature, Article 234 was taken out of Part XIV which includes
Article 309. Article 309 is "subject to the other provisions of the
E
Constitution'', which means and includes Article 234. Article 234, on
the other hand, is not subject to any other provision of the Consti-
tution. The rules, made under Art. 234, will hence not be subject to
any Act of legislature made under Art. 309. Then again, if the
Governor alone was to frame the rules for recruitment to the judicial
service, there was no point in making this invidious distinction F
between the rules for the judicial and fhe other services. This
distinction became necessary because the rules for the Judicial
Service were to be framed in consultation with the High Court. All
these aspects of the matter lead to the inevitable view that Article
234 requires consultation with the High Court only in the matter of G
the making of the rules."
It is now time for us to take stock of the situation. In the light of the
Constitutional scheme guaranteeing independence of Judiciary and separation
of powers between the executive and the judiciary, the Constitutional makers
have taken care to see by enacting relevant provisions for the recruitment of H
368 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2000] 2 S.C.R.
A eligible persons to discharge judicial functions from grass-root level of the
Judiciary up to the apex level of the District Judiciary, that rules made by the
Governor in consultation with the High Court in case of recruitment at grass-
root level and the recommendation of the High Court for appointments at the
apex level of the District Judiciary under Article 233, remain the sole
B repository of power to effect such recruitments and appointments. It is easy
to visualise that if suitable and competent candidates are not recruited at both
these levels, the out turn of the judicial product would not be of that high level
which is expected of judicial officers so as to meet the expectations of
suffering humanity representing class of litigants who come for redressal of
their legal grievances at the hands of competent, impartial and objective
c Judiciary. The Presiding Officer of the Court if not being fully equipped with
legal grounding may not be able to deliver goods which the litigating public
expects him to deliver. Thus, to ensure the recruitment of the best available
talent both at grass-root level as well as at apex level of District Judiciary,
Articles 233 and 234 have permitted full interaction between the High Court
D which is the expert body controlling the District Judiciary and the Governor
who is the appointing authority and who almost carries out the ministerial
function of appointing recommended candidates both by the Public Service
Commission and the High Court at the grass-root level and also has to appoint
only those candidates who are recommended by the High Court for appointment
E at the apex level of District Judiciary. Any independent outside inroad on this
exercise by legislative enactment by the State Legislature which would not
require consultation with an expert agency like the High Court would
necessarily fall foul on the touchstone of the Constitutional scheme envisaging
insulation of judicial appointments from interference by outside agencies,
bypassing the High Court, whether being the Governor or for that matter
F Council of Ministers advising him or the Legislature~ For judicial appointments
the real and efficacious advice contemplated to be given to the Governor while
framing rules under Article 234 or for making appointments on t~1e
recommendations of the High Court under Article 233 emanates only from the
High Court which forms the bed-rock and very soul of these exercises. It is
G axiomatic that the High Court, which is the real expert body in the field in
which vests the control over Subordinate Judiciary, has a pivotal role to play
in the recruitments of judicial officers whose working has to be thereafter
controlled by it under Article 235 once they join the Judicial Service after
undergoing filtering process at the relevant entry points. It is easy to visualise
H that when control over District Judiciary under Article 235 is solely vested in
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 369
the High Court, then the High Court must have a say as to what type of A
material should be made available to it both at the grass-root level of District
Judiciary as well as apex level thereof so as to effectively ensure the
dispensation of justice through such agencies with ultimate object of securing
efficient administration of justice for the suffering litigating humanity. Under
these circumstances, it is impossible to countenance bypassing of the High B
Court either at the level of appointment at grass-root level or at the apex level
of the District Judiciary. The rules framed by the Governor as per Article 234
after following due procedure and the appointments to be made by him under
Article 233 by way of direct recruitment to the District Judiciary solely on the
basis of the recommendation of the High Court clearly project a complete and
insulated scheme of recruitment to the Subordinate Judiciary. This completely c
insulated scheme as envisaged by the founders of the Constitution cannot be
tinkered with by any outside agency dehors the permissible exercise envisaged
by the twin Articles 233 and 234 .. It .is a misnomer to suggest that any
imposition of scheme of reservation for filling up vacancies in already existing
or created sanctioned posts in any cadre of district judges or Subordinate D
Judiciary will have nothing to do with the concept of recruitment and
appointment for filling up such vacancies. Any scheme of reservation foisted
on the High Court without consultation with it directly results in truncating the
High Court's power of playing a vital role in the recruitment of eligible
candidates to fill up these vacancies and hence such appointments on reserved E
posts would remain totally ultra vires the scheme of the Constitution enacted
for that purpose by the founding fathers. It is also to be noted that the concept
of social justice underlying the scheme of reservation under Article 16(4) read
with Article 335 cannot be said to be one which the High Court would
necessarily ignore being a responsible Constitutional functionary. In fact what
is required is that the right decision should be arrived at in the right manner. F
In the facts of the prese!lt case, it is an admitted position that the High Court
of Patna has already consented to have 14% reservation for SC candidates and
10% reservation for ST candidates in recruitment of Munsiffs and Magistrates
at grass-root level of Subordinate Judiciary and rules framed under Article 234
by the Governor of Bihar in consultation with the High Court have permitted G
such reservation. Thus, it is not as if the purpose of reservation cannot be
achieved without reference to the High Court. But as the saying goes "you can
take a horse to the water but cannot make it drink by force". Thus what is
expected of the executive and the Governor is to have an effective dialogue
with the High Court so that appropriate reservation scheme can be adopted by H
-
370 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000) 2 S.C.R.
A way of rules under Article 234 and even by prescribing quota of reservations
of posts for direct recruits to District Judiciary under Article 233 if found
necessary and feasible. That is the Constitutional scheme which is required to
be followed both by the High Court and by the executive represented through
the Governor. But this thrust of the Constitutional scheme cannot be given a
go-bye nor can the entire apple-cart be turned topsy-turvey by the legislature
B
standing aloof in exercising its supposed independent Legislative power
dehors the High Court's consultation.
Leaving aside this question even on the express language of the
impugned Section 4 of the Act, argument of learned senior counsel for the
c appellant-State would fall through as the said Section does not envisage
creation ot\separate category of posts for reserved category of candidates in
the existing cadres of District Judges and Subordinate Judges. On the
contrary, that Section postulates available vacancies in the already existing
posts in the cadres and tries to control appointments to such existing posts
D in the vacancies falling due from time to time by adopting the rule of thumb
and a road-roller provision of 50% vacancies to be reserved for reserved
category candidates, meani1g thereby, the Section mandates the High Court
and that too without consulting it, that it shall not fill up 50% of available
vacancies by selected candidates standing in the order of merit representing
E general category candidates and must go in search of less meritorious
candidates for filling up these vacancies supposedly reserved for them. Such
a scheme can be envisaged only under relevant rules framed under Articles
233 and 234 after consultation with the High Court and cannot be made the
subject matter of any legislative fiat which the High Court is expected to carry
out willy-nilly and dehors the Constitutional scheme regarding full and
F effective consultation with the High Court in this connection. It must,
therefore, be held that the impugned Section 4, as existing on the statute book
if allowed to operate as it is for controlling recruitment to the posts of district
judges as well as to the posts in Judiciary subordinate thereto to the district
c1.mrts, would directly conflict with the Constitutional scheme of Articles 233
G and 234 constituting a complete Code and has to be treated as ultra vires
the said Constitutional scheme.
Before parting with the discussion on this point, we may mention that
in the impugned judgment of the High Court in CWJC No. 6756 of 1994
H the learned Judges have considered the question of reservation of posts in
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 371
Judicial Service dehors the Reservation Act in paragraphs 16 to 21 of the A
judgment. Placing reliance on a decision of the Constitution bench Judgment
of this Court in Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association & Am: v.
Union of India, AIR (1994) SC 268, it has been observed that whenever such
a question arises and any scheme of reservation is sought to be introduced
by the Governor in consultation with the High Court, the opinion of the High B
Court shall have primacy. We may mention that this question strictly does
not arise for our consideration in the present proceedings for the simple
reason that legality of rules of reservation, if any, framed by the Governor
under Article 309 read with Articles 233 and 234 introducing a scheme of
reservation contrary to. the consent of the High Court has not arisen for
decision. In the present proceedings, we aie concerned with the short ques- c
tion whether totally bypassing the High Court, the State Legislature can
enact a statutory provision introducing a scheme of reservation in Judicial
Service comprised of District Judges cadre as well as cadre of Judges
subordinate thereto. Hence, the aforesaid observations of the High Court, in
our view, were not called for in the present case and we express no opinion D
thereon.
Point no.2, therefore, will have to be answered in the affirmative against
the appellant-State and in favour of the respondent.
E
Point No.3:
In the light of our answer to point no.2, the question survives for
consideration as to what appropriate orders can be passed in connection with
the impugned Section 4 of the Act. Now it must be kept in view that Section
4, as enacted in the Act, can have general operation and efficacy ~egarding F
other Services of the State not forming part of Judicial Service of the State.
Qua such other services Section 4 can operate on its own and in that
connection consultation with the High Court is not at all required. However,
in so far as it tries to encroach upon the field of the recruitment and
appointment to Subordinate Judicial Service of the State as envisaged by G
Articles 233 and 234 it can certainly be read down by holding that Section 4
of the impugned Act shall not apply for regulating the recruitment and
appointments to the cadre of District Judges as well as to the cadre of Judiciary
subordinate to the District Judges and such appointments will be strictly
governed by the Bihar Superior Judicial Service Rules, 1951 as weJJ as by the H
372 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000) 2 S.C.R.
A Bihar Judicial Service (Recruitment) Rules, 1955. In other words, Section 4
will not have any impact on·these rules and will stand read down to that ~xtent
Once that is done, question of striking down the said rule from the statute book
would not survive and would not be required. We, accordingly, read it down
as aforesaid. Point. no.3 is answered accordingly in favour of the respondent
B and against the appellant-State.
Point No.4:
Now the stage is reached for passing appropriate final orders .in the light
of our answers to the aforesaid points. The impugned judgments of the High
c Court iri both these appeals allowing the writ petitions are sustained subject
to the following modifications and directions :
1. Even though the impugned Act, as framed, is held to be applicable
even to Judicial Service, Section 4 thereof in particular laying down scheme
of reservation, will not apply for governing the recruitment to the cadre of
D
District Judiciary as well as to the cadres of Judiciary Subordinate to the
District Judges.
2. The observation of the High Court in the impugned judgment in Civil
Appeal No. 9072 of 1996 to the effect that if two candidates, one belonging
E to general category and another to reserved category are found to be equally
meritorious, preference can be given to reserved category candidate is the only
rational scheme envisaged by the Constitution, being an unnecessary one will
be treated to be of no legal effect.
3. Despite the aforesaid observations, the stand of the respondent High
F
Court that for recommending direct recruitment of advocates as District Judges
the suggested preference to be given to reserved category candidate of equal
merit with general category candidate has to be followed by the High Court
as agreed to in the present proceedings till appropriate scheme of reservation
for reserved category candidates if any is promulgated by the Governor by
G framing appropriate rules in consultation with the High Court and the same
proced.ire will have to be followed by the High Court till then. Once such a
scheme after proper dialogue with the High Court is promulgated by amending
the relevant rules then obviously the High Court even while recommending
recruitment to the posts of District Judges from members of the Bar as per
H Article 233(2) will be bound by such a scheme of reservation.
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [S.B.MAJMUDAR, J.] 373
4. For governing direct recruitment at grass-root level as per the Bihar A
Judicial Service (Recruitment) Rules, 1955, 14% reservation for SC and 10%
reservation for ST candidates shall be followed by all concerned acting under
the said rules and appointments at the grass-root level of Judiciary shall be
made following the said scheme of reservation until any other scheme of
reservation is promulgated by amending the relevant rules by the Governor
B
after effective consultation with the High Court as envisaged by Article 234
read with Article 309.
5. By an interim order dated 16.11.1995 in the Civil Appeal arising out
of SLP(C) No.16476 of 1993 it was directed as under :
c
"Having heard counsel representing different interests we modify the
order. dated 13.5.94 whereby it was stated that while the process of
selection may go on but actual appointment orders should not be
issued. If the selection process is over the selectees may be
appointed subject to the result of this petition and further subject to
D
the seniority that may be required to be adjusted if reservatio1.1 is
upheld and candidates to fill in the reserved slots are selected at any
time hereafter and become entitled to appointments. However,
question of filling up the reserved posts will not arise and they shall
remain in abeyance but if after this Court decides the issue on
reservation in the instant case and selections are made even there- E
after and appointments are made, they will be entitled to their
respective seniorities at the slots available as on the date of appoint-
ment of General Category candidates."
In this appeal, the appointments of candidates as per 1955 Rules to the posts p
of Subordinate Judges and Munsiffs are on the anvil of consideration. The writ
petition filed by the original writ petitioners before the High Court will stand
partly allowed by holding that Section 4 of the impugned Act does not apply
to these recruitments and the scheme of reservation of 14% for SCs and 10%
for STs only will apply to such recruitment. As a result, the question of filling
up of reserved posts in this case will remain germane to the aforesaid extent G
of permissible reservation of 24% for SC and ST candidates. The concerned
authorities will work out the rights of the selected candidates for being
appointed to these posts governed by the Bihar Judicial Service (Recruitment)
Rules, 1955 accordingly, keeping in view the directions contained in the
interim order of this Court dated 16.11.1995. H
374 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] .2 S.C.R.
A 6. Both these appeals are accordingly dismissed subject to the aforesaid
modifications and directions. There will be no order as to costs in both these
appeals.
PA'ITANAIK, J. I have gone through the two learned judgments, one
of Brother Majmudar, J. and the other of Brother Sethi, J. expressing divergent
B views on the question at issue, and I entirely agree with the conclusions arrived
at by Brother Majmudar, J. and respectfully differ from the views expressed
by Brother Sethi, J. But in view of the importance of the question I would like
to add few paragraphs of my own'.
The question for consideration is whether the State Legislature could
c enact a law in exereise of their powers under article 309 of the Constitution
in relation to the recruiUnent and laying down the conditions of service of the
officers belonging to the Judicial Services of the State? It is in this context the
further question that arises for consideration is whether the provisions of the
Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Castes,
D Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes) Act, 1991 (hereinafter referred
to d "the Act'') (Bihar Act 3 of 1992) as amended by Bihar Act 11 of 1993,
providing reservation to the extent mentioned in Section 4 would apply to the
Judicial Services of the State in view of the definition of 'State' in Section
2(m) of the Act. The answer to these questions depend upon an analysis of
E the Constitutional Scheme and how the founding fathers intended to have
separate provisions for the judicial wing of the State. In fact when the question
of appoinUnent of persons to the post of District Judges and post subordinate
thereto were being considered and had been engrafted in the Draft Constitution
under article 209-A to 209-F, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in his Speech in the
Constituent Assembly had categorically stated, "the object of these provisions
F
is two-fold: first of all, to make provision for the appointment of district judges
and subordinate judges and their qualifications. The second object is to place
the whole of the civil judiciary under the control of the High Court. The only
thing which has been excepted from the general provisions contained in article
209-A, 209-B and 209-C is with regard to the magistracy, which is dealt with
G in article 209-E. The Drafting Committee would have been very happy if it
was in a position to recommend to the House that immediately on the
commencement of the Constitution, provisions with regard to the appoinUnent
and control of the Civil Judiciary by the High Court were made applicable to
the magistracy. But it has been realised, and it must be realised that the
H magistracy is intimately connected with the general system of administration.
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [PATTANAIK, J.] ' ' 375
We hope that the proposals which are now being entertained by some of the A
provinces to separate the judiciary from the Executive will be accepted by the
other provinces so that the provisions of article 209-E would be made
applicable to the magistrates in the same way as we proposed to make them
applicable to the civil judiciary. It has been felt that the best thing is to leave
this matter to the Governor to do by public notification as soon as the B
appropriate changes for the separation of the judiciary and the executive are
carried through in any of the province." Thus it is apparent how anxious the
founding fathers of the Constitution were to insulate the judicial wing of the
State from the other wings. When Pt. Hirday Nath Kunzru moved some
amendments to article 209-A, as it stood in the Draft Constitution, he had
indiCated that the very object of amendments is for the purpose that though c
the Governor will appoint District Judges in consultation with the High Court
but once such appointment is made by the Governor the District Judge would
remain under the control of the High Court. It is not necessary to delve into
the reaction of other Members of the Constituent Assembly at that point of
time in as much as almost all the Members had felt the necessity of making D
separate provisions for the judicial wing of the State as far as practicable and
to vest the entire control with the High Court of the State. In fact Dr.
Ambedkar himself had indicated that there is nothing revolutionary in the
provisions o'f the Constitution relating to the sub-ordinate courts of the States
and in fact those provisions were there in the Government of India Act, 1935. E
With this background in mind if we look at the Constitutional Scheme we find
Part XIV consisting of articles 308 to 323 deal with the services under the
Union and the States whereas Chapter VI containing articles 233 to 237 deal
with the Subordinate Courts. Under article 233, the power of appointment,
posting and promotion of district judges in any State has been conferred on
the Governor of the State in consultation with the High Court exercising
F
jurisdiction in relation to such State. It obviously deals with those officers who
are to be promoted to the rank of district judge in the superior judicial service
from the post of subordinate judge. Sub-article (2) of article 233 of the
Constitution makes provision for appointment of a person as a district judge
direct on the recommendation of the High Court concerned. Article 234 of the G
Constitution provides for recruitment of persons other than district judges to
the judicial service of the State and the same has to be made by the Governor
. in accordance with the Rules made by him in that behalf after consultation
with the State Public Service Commission and with the High Court exercising
lurisdiction in relation to such State. Article 235 deals with control over the H
376 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A subordinate courts and there is not an iota of doubt that the control over district
courts and courts subordinate thereto vest with ·the High Court and such
control must be one which is real and effective and there cannot be any
dilution in that respect. It is to be borne in mind that in the Constitutional
Scheme in Chapter VI the Founding Fathers have dealt with the question of
B recruitment and not other conditions of service, such as the age of
superannuation, the pay, the pension and allowances, so on and so forth. While
Article 309 deals with recruitment and conditions of service of persons serving
the Union or the State, a particular category of post forming the judicial wing
has been carved out in Chapter VI in Articles 233 to 235 so far as the question
of recruitment is concerned. When Article 309 itself uses the expression
c "subject to the provisions of this constitution" it necessarily means that if in
the constitution there is any other provision specifically dealing with the topics
mentioned in said Article 309, then Article 309 will be subject to those
provisions of the Constitution. In other words, so far as recruitment to the
judicial services of the State is concerned, the same being provided for
D specifically in Chapter VI under Articles 233 to 237, it is those provisions of
the Constitution which would override any law made by the appropriate
legislature in exercise of power under Article 309 of the Constitution. The
State legislature undoubtedly can make law for regulating the conditions of
services of the officers belonging to the judicial wing but cannot make law
E dealing with recruitment to the judicial services since the field of recruitment
to the judicial service is carved out in the Constitution itself in Chapter VI
under Articles 233 to 236 of the Constitution.
It would be appropriate to notice at this stage while in Articles 145(1),
148(5), 187(3), 229(2), 283(1) and (2), the Constitution itself make the
F provision subject to the provisions of law made by the Parliament but Article
234 is not subject to any legislation to be made by the appropriate legislature,
which indicates that so far as recruitment to the Judicial Service is concerned
which is engrafted in Article 234, the same is paramount and the power of
legislature to make law under Article 309 will not extend to mak;e a law in
G relation to recruitment, though in relation to other conditions of service of such
judicial officers, the appropriate legislature can make a law. In fact in B.S.
Yadav's, case [1981] 1 SCR 1024, on which Dr. Dhawan, appearing for the
H
State of Bihar, heavily relied upon Chief Justice Chandrachud, had noticed to
the effect- "Whenever, it was intended to confer on any authority the power
to make any special provisions or rules, including rules relating to conditions
-
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [PATTANAIK, J.] 377
of service, the Constitution has stated so in express terms. See, for example A
Articles 15(4), 16(4), 77(3), 87(2), 118, 145(1), 146(1) and (2), 148(5),
166(3), 176(2), 187(3), 208, 225, 227(2) and (3) and 229(1) and (2), 234, 237
and 283(1) and (2)." The observation has been made in the context of the
question whether Article 235 confers any power on the High Court to make
Rules relating to the Conditions of Judicial Officers attached to the District B
Courts and the Courts subordinate thereto. The very fact that the framers of
the Constitution in enacting Article 234 have made the provision, not subject
to any acts of the appropriate legislature is the clearest indication of the
Constitution makers that so far as the recruitment to the Judicial Service of the
State is concerned, the State Legislature do not possess the necessary power
to make law. At the cost of repetition, it may be stated that the expression c
"recruitment" and the expression "other conditions of service" are two distinct
connotations in the service jurisprudence and the framers of the Constitution
have also borne that in mind while engrafting Articles 234 and 309 of the
Constitution. It is true that Article 233 dealing with appointment of District
Judges does not indicate conferment of power to make Rules for appointment. D
But the language of article 233 indicates that the entire matter of recruitment
to the post of District Judge, either by way of direct recruitment or by
promotion is left to the High Court and it is the Governor of the State who
is required to make such appointment in consultation with the High Court. So
far as direct recruitment is concerned, the Constitution itself lays down certain E
criteria for making a person eligible for being appointed/recruited as a District
Judge. The entire field of recruitment is left to the two Constitutional
consultees and obviously, the opinion of the High Court in such matter must
be of binding effect. For direct recruitment to the post of District Judges in
sub-Article (2) of Article 233, the Constitution itself has indicated the
eligibility criteria and the source of recruitment, leaving the manner of final
F
selection with the High Court itself. The argument of Dr. Rajiv Dhawan, in
this context that it would be anomalous that whereas for subordinate judiciary,
the legislature has no power to make law to deal with the recruitment, whereas
for District Judges, the legislature has such power, is devoid of substance
inasmuch as under Article 233, both under Clause (1) as well as Clause (2) G
though the appointment has to be made by the Governor but it is the High
Court, who has to decide as to who would be appointed and this also fits in
with the underlying principles under Article 235 of the Constitution. With
reference to second part of Article 235, Dr. Dhawan had also raised the
contention that it pre-supposes that the legislature does possess the power [O H
378 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2000] 2 S.C.R.
A make law, conferring a right to appeal to an officer of the judiciary of the State,
though, control over District Courts and Courts sub-ordinate thereto vests with
the High Court. But this contention does not take into account the distinction
between the two connotations namely 'recruitment' and 'conditions of
service'. The second part of Article 235 protecting a right of appeal which an
B officer may have under any law made by the legislature or Governor relates
to regulating the conditions of service and not in relation to recruitment of the
said officer. An ingenious argument had been advanced by Dr. Dhawan to the
effect that Article 234 expressly uses the expression that 'the appointment has
to be made in accordance with the Rules to be made by the Governor in
consultation with the State Public Service Commission and with the High
c Court, thereby is referable to proviso to Article 309 and, therefore, the plenary
power of the legislature under main Article 309 is not whittled down in any
manner. But this argument over- looks the fact that the law made ·by the
legislature under the main part of Article 309 and the law made by the
Governor under the proviso stands on the same footing. At this stag~, it would
D be appropriate to notice the argument advanced by Mr. Dwivedi, the learned
counsel appearing for the State of Bihar in one of these appeals to the effect
that the appropriate act of the State Legislature providing for reservation in the
services of the State is a stage prior to the recruitment or appointment and,
therefore the power of recruitment in Article 234 is not in any way infringed.
E a
This contention would not stand moment scrutiny in view of the language
of Section 4 of the Act itself.
4. Reservation for direct recruitment - All appointments to services
and posts in an establishment which are to be filled by direct
recruitment shall be regulated in the following manner, namely:-
F
(1) The available vacancies shall be filled up-
(a) from open merit category 50%
(b) from reserved category 50%
(2) The vacancies from different categories of reserved candidates
G from amongst the 50% reserved category shall, subject to other
provisions of this Act, be as follows:-
I
'{a) Scheduled Castes 14% ::i·
(b) Scheduled Tribes 10%
(c) Extremely Backward Class 12%
H
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [PATTANAIK, J.] 379
(d) Backward Class 8% A
(e) Economically Backward Woman 3%
(t) Economically Backward 3%
Total 50%.
B
Provided that the State Government may, by notification in the official
Gazette, fix different percentage for different districts in accordance
with the percentage of population of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled
Tribes and other backward classes in such districts:
Provided further that in case of promotion; reservation shall be made
c
only for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes in the same proportion
as provided in this section.
(3). A reserved category candidate·who is selected on the basis of
his merit shall be counted against 50% vacancies of open merit D
category and not against the reserved category vacancies.
(4) Notwithstanding anything c.ontained to the contrary in this Act
or in any other law or rules for the time being in force, or in
any judgment or decree of the Court, the provision of sub-
section (3) shall apply to all such cases in which all formalities E
of selection have been completed before the 1st November,
1990, but the appointment letters have not been issued.
(5) The vacancies reserved for the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled
Tribes and other Backward Classes shall not be filled up by
candidates not belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes F
and other Backward Classes except as otherwise provided in this
Act.
(6) (a) In case of non-availability of suitable candidates from the
Scheduled Castes> and Scheduled Tribes for appointment and
G
promotion in vacancies reserved for them, the vacancies shall
continue to be reserved for three recruitment years and if
suitable candidates are not avaiTable even in the third year, the
vacancies shall be exchanged between the Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes and the vacancies so filled by exchange
shall be treated as reserved for the candidates for that particular H
380 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A community who are actually appointed.
(b) In case of non-availability of suitable candidates from the
Extremely Backward Classes and Backward Classes the vacan-
cies so reserved shall continue to be reserved for them for three
recruitment years and if suitable candidates are not available
B even in the third year also, the vacancies shall be filled by
exchange between the candidates from the extremely Backward
and Backward Classes and the vacancies so filled by Exchange
shall be treated as reserved for the candidates of that particular
community who are actually appointed.
c
(c) In case Qf non-availability of suitable candidates for the
vacancies reserved for the economically backward women the
vacancies shall be filled first by the candidates from the
Scheduled Castes, then by the candidates from the Scheduled
Tribes, then by the candidates from extremely backward class
D
and then by the candidates from backward class. The vacancies
so filled in the transaction shall be· treated as reserved for the
candidates of that particular community who are actually ap-
pointed.
E (d) If in any recruitment year, the number of candidates of
Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, extremely Backward and
Backward Classes are less than the number of vacancies re-
served for them even after exchange formula the remaining
backlog vacancies may be filled by general candidates after
deserving them but the vacancies so deserved shall be carried
F
forward for three recruitment years.
(e) If the required number of candidates of Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes and Extremely Backward and Backward
Classes are not available for filling up the reserved vacancies,
G fresh advertisement may be made only for the candidates
belonging to the members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled
Tribes and Extremely Backward and Backward Classes, as the
case may be, to fill the backlog vacancies only."
The plain and grammatical meaning of the words used in Section 4
H
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [PATTANAIK, J.] 381
quoted above unequivocally indicates, that it is a law relating to recruitment/ A
appointment and as such once, it is held that the power of recruitment in
respect of Judicial Services .is provided for in Article 234, the State
Legislature in the garb of making law in consonance with Article 16(4) cannot
encroach upon Article 234. In course of hearing an elaborate argument had
been advanced that reservation is intended to fulfil the Right of Equality B
under Article 16(1) read with 16(4) and the question whether there has been
adequate representation of a particular backward class of citizens has been
left to the satisfaction of the State Government in Article 16(4) and, therefore,
the State Legislature cannot be denuded of its right to make such law to fulfil
the aforesaid Constitutional mandate. We really fail to understand as to why
the legislature would feel that the Governor, when frames rules in consultation · C
with the High Court and the Public Service Commission under Article 234
will not take into consideration the constitutional mandate under Article 16(1)
or Article 16( 4 ). In fact in the case in hand in the Bihar Judicial Service
Recruitment Rules, 1955, reservations have been provided for Scheduled
Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates and the Full Court of Patna High Court D
have also adopted the percentage of reservation for these candidates as per
the notification of the State Government. So far as the Superior Judicial
Service is concerned, it is of course true that there has been no provision
for reservation. But such provision could always be made by the Governor
in consultation with the High Court, also bearing in mind the mandate of E
Article 335, namely "Maintenance of Efficiency of Administration". It is
indeed painful to notice, some times law makers unnecessarily feel that the
High Court or the Judges constituting the High Court are totally oblivious
to the Constitutional mandate underlying Article 16 and more particularly,
Article 16(4). It is also not appropriate to think that the High Court will not
take into consideration the provisions of Article 16(1) and 16(4) while F
considering the case of recruitment to the judicial services of the State. The
Judiciary is one of the three limbs of the Constitution and those who are
entrusted with the affairs of administration of justice must be presumed to
have greater expertise in understanding the Constitutional requirements. In
this view of the matter the contention of Mr. Dwivedi, appearing for the State G
of Bihar is unfounded.
In the aforesaid premises, in my considered opinion, the provisions of
Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes) Act, 1991 has no application H
382" SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.CR.
A to the recruitment of judicial officers in the State o(Bihar.
BANERJEE, J. I have had the privilege of going through the judgments
of Brother Majmudar and Brother Sethi expressing however, two different and
divergent views in regard to the issues raised in the Appeals before us. I have
also the privilege of going through the judgment of Brother Pattanaik,
B recording his concurrence with Brother Majmudar and differing from the
views expressed by Brother Sethi. I also record my concurrence with the views
expressed by Brother Majmudar but I wish to add a few lines without dilating
on to the points delved into both by Brother Majmudar and Brother Pattanaik
in expression of my opinion in the matter in issue.
c The Bihar Reservation of Vaca~cies in Posts and Services (for Scheduled
Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Act, 1991 as amended
by Bihar Act 11 of 1993, in particular Section 4 thereof is the issue in
controversy. The exact language of Section 4 has already been noticed by
both Brother Majmudar and Brother Pattanaik in their judgments and as such
D to avoid the length of the judgment again. I refrain myself from quoting the
same excepting, recording however, that Section 4 of the Act of 1991 covers
the field of reservation for direct recruitment· to the extent of 50% from the
open merit category and 50% from the reserved category and the effort on
the part of the State legislature to include the judiciary within the ambit of
E Section 4 stands negated by the High Court and hence the Appeal before this
Court. The core question that needs to be answered is whether Judicial
Service comes within the ambit of Article 309 so as to clothe the State
legislature with the power of legislation and it is in this context that heading
of Article 309 lends some assistance in the matter which reads; "Recruitment
and conditions of Service of persons serving the Union or a State" Article
F
309 thus, is restrictive to recruitment and conditions of service of persons.
In any event the founding fathers of our Constitution with due care and
caution introduced this Article subject however, to the other provisions in the
Constitution. The opening words of the Article is to be noticed since any rule
in terms of the rule making power as conferred by the proviso to the Article
G if contravenes any of the provisions of the Constitution, the rule cannot but
be ascribed to be void the reason being express words used by the makers
of Constitution 'subject to the provisions' and by reason of existence of a
specific provision in regard thereto. It is an authorisation for the legislature
to legislate relating to recruitment and conditions of service provided there
H is existing no specific provision in regard thereto. Needless to record here
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [BANERJEE, J.] . 383
that Article 309 falls under Part XIV of the Constitution under the head A
"Services under the Union and States" and relying thereon Dr. Dhawan
appearing in support of the Appeal contended that since judiciary is an organ
of the State question of taking it out of the ambit of Article 309 would not
arise. The constitutional scheme however, runs in direct conflict with the
submission of Dr. Dhawan. Articles 233 to 237 falls under Chapter VI of B
constitution with a heading - 'Subordinate Courts' . The headings of Articles
233, 233A, 234, 235 in this context are of some effect and consequence and
as such, the same are noted hereinbelow:
"233. Appointment of District Judges".
c
"233A. Validation of appointment of, and judgments etc., delivered
by, certain District Judges.
"234. Recruitment of persons other than District Judges to the Judicial
Service".
D
"235. Control over subordinate courts".
Be it noted that whereas Chapter V of the Constitution deals with the
High Court in the State, Chapter VI as noticed above deals with Subordinate
Courts; the scheme of the Constitution thus, is categorical enough to depict the
judiciary as a specific class by itself being an independent third wing of
E
democratic polity. The appointment of district judges though conferred in
terms of Article 233 of the Constitution on the Governor of the State but the
"Consultation with the High Court exercising jurisdiction in relation to such
a State" has been inserted in order to obviate any controversy as to the
efficiency of the officers who are to be promoted to the rank of district judge F
in the Higher Judicial Service from the post of subordinate Judge. The
incorporation of sub-Article 2 as regards a direct recruit district judge on the
basis of the recommendations of the High Court for appointment has as a
matter of fact cemented the controversy, in the event however, there being any,
as regards the method of consultation in the matter of appointment of district G
judges. The further incorporation of Articles 234 and 235 and on a plain
reading thereof would leave no manner of doubt as to the separate categorization
of judicial officers exclusive to themselves and their appointment independently
of Articles 309.
The inclusion of Chapter VI in the Constitution as a matter of fact H
384 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A records a distinct intention of the framers of the Constitution as regards the
supremacy and separateness of the judiciary from the legislature and the
executive. If Article 309 is subject to be a general provision, Articles 233 to
235 ought to be treated as specific provisions for appointment of judicial
officers and by reason therefor, the specific field of legislation thus stands
completed and obviously the framers of the Constitution having provided
B
Articles 233 to 235, introduced in Article 309, the words "subject to the
provisions of this Constitution". As a matter of fact the submission in support
of the· Appeal does not stand to further scrutiny by reason of the fact that in
the event of there being al!y contra intention of the framers, the same would
·have found an expression ~n Article 234 itself. The appointment of district
c judges, in my view, without any hesitation rests with two constitutional
functionaries namely, the Governor and the High Court and thus withdrawing
the same from the purview Of the general power as conferred under Article
309.
On the wake of the aforesaid, judicial service thus, cannot be termed to
D be covered under Article 309 as regards the <appointment thereto though
however, other conditions of service specifically left open and thus the
authorisation to legislate under Article 309 is available in regard to conditions
of service and other incidentals thereto subsequent to the appointment. It may
also be noted that General Legislative powers of the Parliament as well as the
E State Legislature under Article 245 is expressly made subject to other
provisions of.,the Constitution which would obviously include Articles 233 to (
235.
The other aspect of the matter is in regard to Article 16 (4) which Mr.
Dwivedi appearing in support of the Appeal in Appeal No.9072/96 contended
F that reservation is outside the purview of Chapter VI and since Article 16 (4)
can be termed to be a basic feature of the Constitution, appointments in the
posts of district judges ought also to be governed thereunder and not de hors
the same. This aspect of the matter however, has been dealt with elaborately
by both my· learned Brother Majmudar and Brother Pattanaik and as such I do
G not wish to record any further reasons therefor but adopt the same and hereby
record my concurrence therewith. In that view of the matter I would dismiss
both Appeals without however, any order as to costs.
SETID, J. (For himself 8?- Khare, J.)
H We have minute1y perused the well prepared, lucid and knowle<lgeable
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAR [SETHI, J.] 385
judgment of Brother Majmudar, J. but find it difficult to agree with him on A
main issues involved in the case, which undoubtedly are of far reaching
consequences on the future of the Indian polity. As the interpretation of the
various provisions of the Constitution in relation to the independence of
judiciary and the sovereign rights of the legislature to make laws with respect
to the 'Judicial Service' is likely to affect the constitutional scheme adopted
B
in a Parliamentary democracy, We have opted to write a separate judgment
Leave granted in SLP 16476 of 1993.
Concededly India is a Parliamentary democracy having an elaborate
written Constitution adopted by the people of the country for their governance.
The Constitution declares to secure to all citizens of the country, justice-,
c
social, economic and political; liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and
worship and equality of status and opportunity. The Parliamentary form of
democracy introduced in this country is referable to the West-minister
experience of Great Britain. All the basic principles of Parliamentary system
practised and followed in United Kingdom were adopted by the founders of D
the Constitution in our country. The constitutional scheme generally envisages
separation of powers which is not synonymous to the "checks and balances"
as prevalent in the United States Constitutional system. In implementation of
the scheme, with respect to separation of powers amongst the main win~
of the 'State', there is overlapping sometimes, even without encroachment E
as the Constitution is found to contain interactive provisions.
The constitutional scheme makes the Executive responsible to the
Legislature. The paramount consideration and dominant goal of the Constituent
Assembly has been to bring popular people into the Government and make
the 9ovemment answerable to the representatives of the people. The Indian F
Parliamentary system adopted and practised for over half a century has, by
and large, kept pace with the changing circumstances by embodying innovations
and practices to meet the requirements of the changing role of the Parliament.
Various provisions made in the Constitution reflect the desire of the nation
to have a practicable socio-political-economic system to meet the aspirations G ,
of the common man. The system is intended to deliver the goods and services
to the satisfaction of the common masses. The constitutional framework
envisaging Parliamentary system of governance ensures the establishment of
a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic Republic in the country. It gnarantees
fundamental rights and mandates the Directive Principles of the State policy. H
386 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A Besides providing a quasi federal system in the country and envisaging the
scheme for distribution of legislative powers between the State and the
Centre, it emphasizes the establishment of the rule of law. The form of
Government envisaged under a Parliamentary system of democracy is a
representative democracy in which the people of the country are entitled to
B exercise their sovereignty through the legislature which is fo be elected on
the basis of adult franchise and to which the Executive, namely, the Council
of Ministers is responsible. The legislature has been acknowledged to be a
nerve centre of the State activities. It is through Parliament that elected
representatives of the people ventilate peoples grievances.
C The Constitution devises the ways and means in its various parts by
which each of the three branches of the Government, namely, legislative,
executive and judiciary can function without interference of the other by
invading others assigned sphere.
The doctJ.ine of separation of powers though not strictly accepted yet
D provides for independent judiciary in the States. This Court in Chandra Mohan
v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors., AIR (1966) SC 1987 held:
"The Indian Constitution, though it does not accept the stJ.ict
doctrine of separation of powers, provides for an independent judi-
E ciary in the States: it constitutes a High Court for each State,
prescribes the institutional conditions of service of the Judges thereof,
confers extensive jurisdiction on it to issue writs to keep all tribunals,
including in appropriate cases the Governments, within bounds and
gives to it the power of superintendence over all courts and tribunals
in the territory over which it has jurisdiction. But the makers of the
F Constitution also realised that 'it is the Subordinate Judiciary in India
who are brought most closely into contact with the people, and it is
no less important, perhaps indeed even more important, that their
independence should be placed beyond question in the case of the
superior Judges.' Presumably to secure the independence of the
G judiciary from the executive, the Constitution introduced a group of
articles in Ch. VI of Part VI under the heading "Subordinate Courts".
But at the time the Constitution was made, in most of the States the
magistracy was under the direct control of the executive. Indeed it is
common knowledge that in pre-independence India there was a strong
H agitation based upop the assumption that unless they were separated,
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 387
the independence of the judiciary at the lower levels would be a A
mockery. So article 50 of the Directive Principles of Policy states that
the State shall take steps to separate the judiciary from the executive
in the public services of the States. Simply stated, it means that there
shall be a separate judicial service free from the executive control."
B
The hallmark of the constitutional scheme in the country is the role
of judicial review assigned to the courts. Unlike United States our Constitution
explicitly empowers the Supreme court and the High Courts to check the
actions of the Executive and the Legislature in case of such actions being
incompatible with the Constitution. To ensure the existence of an independent,
effective and vibrant judiciary provision is made in the Constitution in Part c
V, Chapter IV dealing with the Union Judiciary, Part VI, Chapter V dealing
with the High Courts in the States and Chapter VI dealing with Subordinate
Courts. This Court, in various decisions, has highlighted the importance of
insulating the judiciary from executive interference to make it effectively
independent. D
In S.P. Gupta v. Union of India, [1982] 2 SCR 365 , Bhagwati, J., as
His Lordships then was declared that the principle of independence of
judiciary is not an abstract conception but it is a living faith which must derive
its inspiration from the constitutional charter and its nourishment and sustenance
from the constitutional values. The Indian judiciary was described as a E
document of social revolution which casts an obligation on every instrumentality
including the judiciary which is a separate but equal branch of the State to
transform the status quo ante into a new human order in which justice, social,
economic and political will inform all institutions of national life and there will
be equality of status and opportunity for all. The British concept of justicing F
was found to be satisfactory for a stable and static society but not for a society
pulsating with urges of gender justice, worker justice, minorities justice, dalit
justice and equal justice between chronic unequals. In the words of Glanville
Austin, the judiciary has to become an arm of the socio-economic revolution
and perform an active role calculated to bring social justice within the reach
G
of the common man.
In the instant case the controversy relates to the alleged invasion on the
independence of subordinate judiciary defined as 'judicial service' in Article
236 of the Constitution. It is contended that the provisions of Part VI, Chapter
. VI of the Constitution are to be construed independently ignoring the other H
388 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A constitutional guarantees and provisions made to deal with the public services
of the Union and the States as contemplated under Article 309 of the
Constitution. On the one haJ!d it is submitted that the said Chapter VI is a self-
contained provision with which no interference can be had by any other organ
of the State, namely, the executi~e and the legislature. On the other hand it
B is contended that conceding that the provisions made in the said Chapter are
mandatory, the executive or the legislature is not debarred from supplementing
those provisions without transgressing the limit imposed by law or making
such provision which may not amount to interference with the judiciary
endangering its independence. Divergent views are expressed regarding the
nature of service contemplated under Part VI, Chpater VI and the service
c referred to in Part XIV Chapter I.
The impugned Act being Bihar Act No.3 of 1992 is referable to the
provisions of Article 309 legislated by the State Legislature in exercise of its
powers conferred upon it under Part XI Chpater I read with Schedule VII
D Entry 41 List II and Entry IIA List III. Section 4 of the impugned Act deals
with and provides reservation iri all service~ including the judicial service. The
High Court of Patna has held the aforesaid section to be inapplicable to the
judicial service with the result that the appointments to the judicial service
have been made without any reservation.
E Without repeating the facts as narrated in the judgment of Majmudar,
J., it is noticed that when the High Court .of Patna administratively declined
to concede reservation in the judicial services, the State Legislature enacted
the impugnecl Act.
Article 233 of the Constitution provides that appointment of District
F Judges shall be made by the Governor of the State in consultation with the
High Court exercising jurisdiction in relatioh to such State. Direct appointment
of a person to the post of District Judge can be made only if he has been an
Advocate/Pleader for seven years and is recommended by the High Court for
appointment. The appointment contemplated under this Article is the initial
G appointment from direct recruits or initial promotion from the service. The
exercise of power of appointment b)'. the Governor is conditioned by his
consultation with the High Court which· means that he can appoint only such
person to the post of District Judge who has been recommended by the High
Court. The object of consultation was considered by this Court in Chandra
H Mohan's case (Supra) wherein it was held:
STATE v: BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 389
-- "The Constitutional mandate is clear. The exercise of power of
appointment by the Governor is conditioned by his consultation with
A
the High Court that is to say, he can only appoint a person to the post
of District Judge in consultation with the High Court. The object of
consultation is apparent. The High Court is expected to know better
than the Governor in regard to the suitability or otherwise of a person,
B
belonging either to the 'judicial service' or to the Bar, to be appointed
as a district judge. Therefore, a duty is enjoined on the Governor to
make the appointment in consultation with a body which is the
appropriate authority to give advice to him. This mandate can be
disobeyed by the Governor in two ways, namely, (i) by not consulting
the High Court at all, and (ii) by consulting the High Court and also c
other persons. In one case he directly infringes the mandate of the
Constitution and in the other he indirectly does so, for his mind may
be influenced by other persons not entitled to advice him."
1
This Court in State of Assam & Am: v. Kuseswar Saikia & Others, AIR
D
(1970) SC 1616 held that the separate judicial service was provided to make
the office of a Distri'ct Judge completely free of executive control.
In Chandramouleshwar Mohan Prasad v. 11ie Patna High Court &
Ors., AIR (1970) SC 370 this Court held that the underlying idea of Article
233 is that the Governor should make up his mind after there has been a E
deliberation with the High Court. The High Court is the body which is
intimately familiar with the efficiency and quality of officers who are fit to be
promoted as District Judges. The High Court alone knows the merits as also
their demerits and that the consultation with the High Court under Article 233
is not an empty formality. p
It is not disputed in this case that the State Legislature had the plenary
power to enact the impugned Act under Part XI Chapter I read with 7th
Schedule Entry 41 of List II and Entry IIA of List III. It is also not disputed
that the said Act has been enacted to give effect to the fundamental rights, the
Directive Principles of State Policy and the obligation of the State under G
Article 335 of the Constitution.
The controversy rests upon the interpretation of Articles 233, 234, 235
and 309 of the Constitution. The High Court held that the judicial service was
not a service in the sense of employment and was distinct from other services. H
390 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A Referring to various provisions of the impugned Act and the definitions of the
terms "any office or department" in an "establishment" and "State", the High
Court concluded that the provisions of Section 4 of the said Act were not
applicable to the judicial service and that no reservation in terms thereof could
be made in the matter of appointment to the post of District Judges and other
B judicial officers subordinate to the District Judge. The High Court extensively
referred to the observations of this Court in the case of All India Judges
Association & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors., AIR (1993) SC 2493 to conclude
that the judicial service having been assigned a special status and place in the
Constitution was in contradistinction to other services within the constitutional
framework. It was held that the definition of "office or department" and of
c "establishment" under the Act was referable to the office or departmen,t of the
Court and not the Court itself.
Part XIV Chapter I of the Constitution relates to "services under the
Union and the State". Article 309 authorises the appropriate Legislature to
D regulate the recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to
public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of any
State, however, subject to other provisions of the Constitution. Proviso to
Article 309 authorises the executive to make rules regulating the recruitment
and conditions of service of persons appointed to such services or posts until
· powers in that behalf are exercised by the appropriate Legislature under
E Article 309 of the Constitution.
"Public Service" means anything done for the service of the public in
any part of the country in relation to the affairs of the Union or the State. It
was opposite of private service. Persons connected with the discharge of
F public duties relating to any of the organs of the State i.e. executive, judiciary
and legislature including the Armed Forces, would be termed as "public
servants" engaged in the service of the Public.
Public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or
of any State would refer to all services and posts under the Union and the State
G and include every commissioned officer in the Military, Naval or Air Force,
every Judge, every officer of court of justice, a member of Panchayat, every
arbitrator or other person to whom any cause or matter has been referred for
decision or report by any court of justice, every person who holds any office
by virtue of which he is empowered to place or keep any person in
H confinement; every officer of the Government whose duty it is as such officer,
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 391
to prevent offences, to give information of offences, to bring offenders to A
justice or to protect the public health, safety or convenience; every officer
whose duty it is, as such officer, to talce, receive, keep or expend any property
on behalf of the Government, or to make any survey assessment or contract
on behalf of the Government; every officer who holds any office in virtue of
which he is empowered to prepare, publish, maintain or revise an electoral roll B
or to conduct an election or part of an election; every person in the service
or pay of the Government or remunerated by fees or commission for the
performance of any public duty by the Government; or such person in the pay
of a local authority, a corporation established by or under a Central or State
Act, and the like. Section 21 of the Indian Penal Code may be an indicator
to refer to the public services and posts intended to be covered or contemplated c
under Article 309 of the Constitution. Judicial service, therefore, cannot be
termed not to be a service within the meaning of Article 309. Accordingly, the
appointment of District Judge under Article 233 is an appointment to the
public service within the meaning of Article 309 of the Constitution. It is true
that the constitutional scheme envisages an independent judiciary not being D
under the Executive but such an independent judiciary cannot be termed to be
a creation of a distinct service in the State being not subject to law making
sovereign powers of the Legislature. Article 309, as noticed earlier, is itself
subject to other provisions of the Constitution which guarantee the independence
of judiciary. The power of appointment of District Judges is vested in the E
Governor subject to the conditions imposed under Article 233 of the
Constitution.
It follows, therefore, that subject to the other provisions of the
Constitution, the appropriate Legislature can regulate the recruitment and
condition of service of all persons appointed to public services including the F
judicial services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of
the State. Similarly with restraint of the provisions of Article 309 the Governor
of the State can malce rules regulating the recruitment and condition of service
of such persons. The scheme of the Constitution, ensuring independence of
judiciary clearly and unambiguously provides that no power is conferred upon G
executive to exercise disciplinary authority and jurisdiction in respect of
judicial service. Express provision has been made under the Constitution,
vesting in the High Court "the control over District Courts and Courts
subordinate thereto". Such a provision did not exist in the Government of
India Act, 1935. H
392 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A In State of West Bengal & Am: v. Nripendra Nath Bagchi, AIR (1966)
SC 447 this Court after referring to Articles 233, 234 and 235 of the
Constitution held that the aforesaid Articles were intended to make special
provision for the judicial service of the State. To understand why a special
chapter was provided when there existed Part· XIV dealing ~Ith the service.
B under the Union and the State it was found necessary to go into the history
of the aforesaid constitutional provision. It was held:
"Before we set down briefly how this Chapter came to be enacted·
outside the Part dealing with Services and also why the articles were
worded, as they are, we may set down the corresponding provisions
c . of the Government of India Act, 1935. There too a special provision
was made in respect of judicial officers but it was included as a part
of Chapter 2 of Part X which dealt with the Civil Services under the
Crown in India. The cognate sections were Ss. 254 to 256 and they
may be reproduced here:
D "254. District Judges, etc.
~
( 1) Appointments of persons to be, and the posting and promotion
of District Judges in the Province shall be made by the Governor
of the Province, exercising his individual judgment, and the
High Court shall be consulted before a recommendation as to
E
the making of any such appointment is submitted to the Governor.
'[J,
(2) A person not already in the service of His Majesty shall only
be eligible to be appointed a District Judge if he has been for not
less than five years a Barrister, a member of the Faculty of
F Advocates in Scotland, or a Pleader and is recommended by the
High Court for appointment.
(3) In this and the next succeeding section the expression 'District
Judge' includes Additional District Judge, Joint District Judge,
Assistant District Judge, Chief Judge of a Small Cause Court,
G Chief Presidency Magistrate, Sessions Judge, Additional Sessions
Judge, and Assistant Sessions Judge.
255. Subordinate Civil Judicial Service.
( 1) The Governor of each Province shall, after consultation with
H the Provincial Public Service Commission and with the High
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 393
Court, make rules defining the standard of qualifications to be A
attained by persons desirous of entering the subordinate civil
judicial service of a Province.
In this section, the expression "subordinate civil judicial
service" means a service consisting exclusively of persons
intended to fill civil judicial posts inferior to the post of District B
Judge.
(2) The Provincial Public Service Commission for each Province,
after holding such examinations, if any, as the Governor may
think necessary, shall from time to time out of the candidates for
appointment to. the subordinate civil judicial service of the
c
Province make a list or lists of the persons whom they consider
fit for appointment to that service, and appointment to that
service shall be made by the Governor from the persons included
in the list or lists in accordance with such regulations as may
from time to time be made by him as to the number of persons D
in the said service who are to belong to the different communities
in the Province.
(3) The posting and promotion of, and the grant of leave to,
persons belonging to the subordinate civil judicial service of a
Province and holding any post inferior to the post of District E
Judge, shall be in the hands of the High Court, but nothing in
this section shall be construed as taking away from any such
person the right of appeal required to be given to him by the
foregoing provisions of this chapter, or as authorising the High
Court to deal with any such person otherwise than in accordance F
with the conditions of his service prescribed thereunder.
256 Subordinate criminal magistracy.
No recommendation shall be made for the grant of magisterial
powers or of enhanced magisterial powers to, or the withdrawal G
of any magisterial powers from, any person save after consultation
with the District Magistrate or the district in which he is working,
or with the Chief Presidency Magistrate, as the case may be.
It may be pointed out at once that in the prese.nt Constitution these
provisions have been lifted from the ~hapter dealing with Services H
394 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A in India and placed separately after the provisions relating to the
High Courts of the States.
(8) As far back as 1912 the Islington's Commission stated that the
witnesses before the Commission demanded two things (1) recruitment
from the Bar to the superior judicial service, namely, .the District
B judgeship; and (2) the separation of the judiciary from the executive.
The Commission stated in the report: 'Opinion in India is much
exercised on the question of the separation of the execu~ive and the
judicial functions of the officers' ... and observed that 'to bring this
about legislation would be required'. The Commission made its
c report on August 14, 1915, a few days after the Government of India
Act, 1915 (5 and 6 Geo. V. c.61) was enacted. The Act did not,
therefore, contain any special provision about the judicial services in
India. The World War I was also going on. In 1919, Part VII-A
consisting of Ss.96-B to 96-E was added in the Governlillent of India
Act, 1915 S.96-B provided that every person in the Civil Service of
D the Crown in India held office during His Majesty's pleasure but no
person in that service might be dismissed by any authority subordinate
to that by which he was appointed. The only section that concerns us
in S.96-B. Sub-s.(2) of that section reads as follows :
"(2) The Secretary of State in Council may make rules for
E
regulating the classification of the civil services in.Jndia, the
methods of their recruitment, their conditi~ns of service, pay
and allowances, and discipline and conduct. Such rules may, to
such extent and in respect of such matters as may be prescribed,
delegate the power of making rules to the Governor-General in
F Council or to Local Governments, or authorise the Indian
legislature or local legislatures to make laws regulating the public
services:"
The Fundamental Rules and fue Civil Services (Classification,
G
Control and Appeal) Rules were made by the Secretary of State in (
Council under the above rule-making power. These rules governed
the judicial services except the High <tourt. Part IX of the Govern-
ment of India Act dealt with the Indian High Courts, their consti-
tution and jurisdiction. Section 107 gave to the High Courts
superintendence over all Courts for the time being subject to its
H appellate jurisdiction and enumerated t11e things the High Court
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 395
could do. They did not include the appointment, promotion, transfer A
or control of the District Judges. High Court could only exercise
such control as came within their superintendence over the Courts
subordinate to their appellate jurisdiction. In the Devolution Rules,
Item 17 in Part II dealing with the Provincial subjects read as
follows:- B
"Administration of justice, including constitution, powers,
maintenance and organisation of civil Court and crimi.nal
jurisdiction within the Province; subject to legislation by the
Indian legislature as regards High Courts, Chief Courts, and
Court of Judicial Commissioners and any Courts of criminal c
jurisdiction."
It would thus appear that the problem about the independence of
judicial officers, which was exercising the minds of the people did not
receive full attention and to all intents and purposes the Executive D
Government and Legislatures controlled them. The recommendations
of the Islington Commission remained a dead letter. When the
Montague-Chemlsford enquiry took place the object was to find out
how much share in the legislative and executive fields could be given
to Indians. The post of the District Judge was previously reserved for E
Europeans. The disability regarding Indians was removed as a result
of the Queen's Proclamation in 1870 and rules were framed first in
1873. In 1875 Lord Northbrook's Government framed rules allowing
Indians to be appointed and Lord Lytton's Government framed Rules
fixing 1/5th quota for thd Indians. There was no fixed principle on
which Indians were appointed and the report of the Public Service F
Commission presided over by Sir Charles Aitchison in 1886 contains
the system followed in different Provinces. This continued down to
1919. The Government of India Act had introduced Dyarchy in India
and the question of control of services in the transferred field was
closely examined when the Governiiient of India Act, 1935 was G
enacted. It was apprehended that if transference of power enabled the
Ministers to control the services, the flow of Europeans to the civil
services would become low. Government appointed several commit-
tees, chief among them the MacDonnel Committee considered the
position of the Europeans vis-a-vis the services. There was more H
396 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A concern about Europeans than about the independence of the judici-
ary.
(9) The Indian Statutory Commission did not deal with the subject of
judicial services but the Joint Committee dealt with it in detail. It is
interesting to know that the Secretary of State rriade a preliminary
B
-
_ statement on the subject of subordinate civil judiciary and his
suggestion was 'to leave to the Provincial Legislatures the general
power' but to int}"oduce in the Constitution 'a provision which would
in one respect override those powers, namely, power to select the
·individuals for appointment to the Civil Judicial Services, to lay down
c their qualific_~tions, and to exercise over the members of the service
,-
the necessary administrative control.' He said that 'the powers of the
local Government should be 'to fix the strength and pay of the
services to which the High Court would recruit' and to lay down, if
they so thought fit, any general requirement...'. During the debates
Marquis of Salisbury asked a question with regard to the general
D powers of the· High Courts and the control over the subordinate courts.
It was:
"As I understood the Secretary of State in his statement, the
control of the High Court the subordinate judges in civil matters
has to be as complete as possibk and maintained. Is that so?.
E
The answer was, 'yes'. (No.7937)".
( 10) The recommendations of the Joint Committee also followed the
same objective. In the report (paragraph 337 p.201) the follo)Ying
observations were made:
F
"337. Necessity for securing independence of subordinate
judiciary. The Federal and High Court Judges will be appointed
by the Crown and their independence is secure; but appointments
to the Subordinate Judiciary must necessarily be made by
authorities in India who o/ill also exercise a certain measure to
G control over the Judges after appointment, especially in the <
matter of promotion and posting. We have been greatly impressed
by the mischiefs which have resulted elsewhere from a system
under which promotion from grade to grade in a judicial hierarchy
is in the hands of a Minister exposed to pressure from members
H of a popularly elected Legislature. Nothing is more likely to sap
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 397
the independence of a magistrate than the knowledge that his A
career depends upon the favour of a Minister; and recent examples
(not in India) have shown very clearly the pressure which may
be exerted upon a magistracy thus situated by men who are
known, or believed, to have the means of bringing influence to
.bear upon a Minister. It is the Subordinate Judiciary in India
B
who are brought most closely into contact with the peopie, and
it is no less important, perhaps indeed even more important, that
their independence should be placed beyond question than in
the case of the superior Judges ... ".
As a result, when the Government of India Act, 1935 was passed c
it contained special provisions (Sections 254-256 already quoted)
with regard to District Judges and the subordinate judiciary. It will be
noticed that there was no immediate attempt to put the subordinate
criminal magistracy under the High Courts but the posting and
promotion and grant of leave of persons belonging to the subordinate
D
judicial service of a Province was put in the bands of High Court
though there was right of appeal to any authority named in the rules
and the High Courts were asked not to act except in accordance with
the conditions of the service prescribed by the Rules. As regards the
District Judges the posting and promotions of a District Judge was to
be made by the Governor of the Province exercising his individual E
judgment and the High Court was to be consulted before a recommen-
dation to the making of such an appointment was submitted to the
Governor. Since S.240 of the Government of India Act, 1935
provided that a civil servant was not to be dismissed by an authority
subordinate to that which appointed him, the Governor was also the F
dismissing authority. The Government of India Act, 1935 was silent
about the control over the District Judge and the subordinate judicial
services. The administrative control of the High Court under S.224
over the courts subordinate to it extended only to the enumerated
topics and to superintendence over them. The independence of the
G
subordina~e judiciary and to the District Judges was thus assured to
a certain extent, but not quite.
(11) When the Constitution was being drafted the advance made by
the 1935 Act was unfortunately lost sight of. The draft Constitution
made no mention of the special provisions, not even similar to those H
398 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A made by the Government of India Act, 1935, in respect of the
subordinate judiciary. If that had remained, the judicial services
would have come under Part XIV dealing with the services in India.
An amendment, fortunately, was accepted and led to the inclusion
of Arts. 233 to 237. These articles were not placed in the Chapter
on services but immediately after the provisions in regard to the
B
High Courts. The articles went a little further than the corresponding
sections of the Government of India Act."
It was further held that Articles 233 and 235 made mention to two distinct
powers. The first relates to power of appointment of persons, their posting and
c promotion and the second is the power to control. This Court did not accept ·
the contention that the word "District Court" denoted only the court but not
the Presiding Judge. The latter part of Article 235 has been held to refer to
the man who holds. the office. The Articles vest "control in the High Court".
The purpose of the aforesaid Articles was held to be in regard with the
Directive Principles in Article 50 of the Constitution which mandates the
,D
States to take steps to separate the judiciary from the executive in the public
services of the State. Reference to Article 50 in connection with Articles 233,
234 and 235, clearly and unambiguously shows that this Court has held that
the judicial service was a public service within the meaning of Article 309
regarding which law could be made, however, subject to other provisions of
E the Constitution providing and guaranteeing the independence of judiciary.
In B.S. Yadav & Ors, etc. v. State of Haryana & Ors., etc., [1981] 1 SCR
1024 this Court considered the scope and extent of Articles 235 and 309 of
the Constitution and held that the power to frame rules regarding the judicial
officers vested in the Governor and not in the High Court. The first part of
F
Article 235 vests the control over District Courts and courts subordinate
thereto in the High Court and the second part of that Article mandates that
nothing in the Articles shall be construed as taking away from any person
belonging to the judicial service any right of appeal which he may have under
law regulating the conditions of service or authorising the High Court to deal
G with him otherwise than in accordance with the conditions of his service
prescribed under such law. Outer limits of the High Court's powers of control
over the subordinate judiciary have thus been defined providing that it is not
open to the High Court to deny to a member of the subordinate judicial service
of the State the right of appeal given to him by law which regulates the
H conditions of his service. Even the High Court, in exercise of its power of
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 399
control, cannot deal with such person otherwise than in accordance with the A
conditions of his service which are prescribed by law. This court then put a
question to itself as to who had the power to pass such a law and answered
it:
"Obviously not the High Court because, there is no power in the High
Court to pass a law, though rules made by the High Court in the
B
exercise of power conferred upon it in that behalf may have the force
of law. There is a distinction between the power to pass a law and
the power to make rules, which by law, have the force of law. Besides,
'law' which the second part of Art. 235 speaks of, is law made by
the legislature because, if it were not so, there was no purpose in c
saying that the High Court's power of control will not be construed
as taking away certain rights of certain persons under a law regulating
their conditions of service. It could not have been possibly intended
to be provided that the High Court's power of control will be subject
to the conditions of service prescribed by it. The clear meaning,
D
therefore, of the second part of Article 235 is that the power of control
vested in the High Court by the first part will .not deprive a judicial
officer or the rights conferred upon him by a law made by the
legislation regulating him conditions of service.
Article 235 does not confer upon the High Court the power to E
make rules relating to conditions of service of judicial officers
attached to district courts and the courts subordinate thereto. When-
ever, it was intended to confer on any authority the power to make
any special provisions or rules, including rules relatlng to conditions .
of service, the Constitution has stated so in express terms. See, for
F
example Articles 15(4), 16(4), 77(3), 87(2), 118, 145(1), 146(1), and
2(148)(5), 166(3), 176(2), 187(3), 208, 225, 227(2) and (3), 229(1)
and (2), 234, 237 and 283(1) and (2). Out of this fasciculus of
Articles, the provisions contained in ArtiCles 225, 227(2) and (3) and
229(1) and (2) bear relevance on the question, because these Articles
confer power on the High Court to frame rules for certain specific G
purpose. Article 229(2) which is directly in point provides in express
terms that subject to the provisions of any law made by the
legislature of the State, the conditions ,of service of officers and
servants of a High Court shall be such as may be prescribed by the
rules made by the Chief Justice or by some;ther Judge or officer H
400 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A of the Court au~orised by the Chief Justice to make rules for ,the
purposes. With this particular provision before them, the framed of
the Constitution would not have failed to incorporate a similar ,
provision in Article 235 if it was intended that the High Courts shall
have the power to make rules regulating the conditions of service of
judicial officers attached to district court& and courts subordinate
B
thereto.
Having seen that the Constitution does not confer upon the High
Court the power to make rules regulating the conditions of service
of judicial officers of the district courts and the courts subordinate
c thereto, we must proceed to ·consider: who, then, p9ssesses that
power? Article 309 furnishes the answer. It provides that Acts of the
appropriate legislature may regulate the recruitment and conditions of
service of persons appointed to posts in connection with the affairs
of the Union or of any State. Article 248(3), read with E~try 41 in
List II of the Seventh Schedule, c:onfers upon the State legislatures
D
the power to pass laws with respect to "State public: services" which
must include the judicial services of the State. The power to control
vested in the High Court by Art. 235 is thus expressly, by the terms
of that Article itself, made subject to the law which the State
legislattire may pass for regulating · the recruitment and service
E conditions of judicial officers of the State. The power to pass such
a law was evidently not considered by the Constitution makers as an .
encroachment on the 'control jurisdiction' of the High Courts 'under
the first part of Article 235. The control over the district courts and
subordinate courts is vested in the High Court in order to safeguard
the independence of judiciary. It is the High Court, not the executive,
-
F
which possesses control over the State judiciary. But, what is iinpor~
tant to bear in mind is that the Constitution which has taken the
greatest care to preserve the independence of the judiciary did not
regard the power of the State legislature to pass laws regulating the
recruitment and conditions of service of judicial officers as an
G infringement of that independence. The mere power to pass such a
law is not· violative of the control vested in the High Court over the
State Judiciary.
It is in this context that the proviso to Art. 309 assumes relevance
H and importance. The State legislature has the power to pass laws
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 401
• regulating the recruitment and conditions of service of judicial A
officers of the State. But it was necessary to µiake a suitable
provision enabling the exercise of that power until the passing of the
law by the legislature on that subject. The Constitution furnishes by
its provisions ample evidence that it abhors a vacuum. It has
therefore, made provisions to deal with situations which arise ·on B
account of the ultimate repository of a power not exercising that .
power. The proviso to Art. 309 provides, in so far as material, that
until the State Legislature passes a law on the particular subject, it
shall be competent to the Governor of the State to make rules
regulating the.recruitment and the conditions of service of the judicial
officers of the State. The Governor thus steps in when ·the legislature .C
does not act. The power exercised by the Governor under the proviso
is thus a power which the legislature is competent to exercise but
has in faGt not yet exercised. It partakes of the characteristics of the
legislative, not executive power. It is legislative power.
D
That the Governor possesses legislative power under our Con"
stitution is incontrovertible and, therefore, there is nothing unique
about the Governor's power under the proviso to Article 309 being
in the nature of a legislative power. By Article 168, the Governor
of a State is a part of. the legislature of the State. And the most E
obvious exercise of legislative power by the Governor is the power
given to him by Art. 213 to promulgate ordinances when the
legislature is not in session. Under that Article, he exercises a power
of the same kind which the legislature normally exercises: the power
to make laws. The heading of Chapter IV of Part VI of the
Constitution, in which Art. 213 occurs, is significant: "Legislative
F
Power of the Governor". The power of the Governor under the
proyiso to Article 309 to make appropriate rules is of the same kind.
It is legislative power. Under Article 213, he substitutes for the
legislature because the legislature is in recess. Under the proviso to
Article 309, he substitutes for the legislature because the legislature G
has not yet exercised its power to pass an appropriate law on the
subject.
It is true that the power conferred by Article 309 is "subject to"
the provisions of the Constitution. But it is fallacious for that reason H
402 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A to contend that the Governor cannot frame rules regulating the
recruitnient and conditions of service of the judicial officers of the
State. In the first. place, the power of control conferred upon High
Courts by the first part of Article 235 is expressly made subject, by
the second part of that Article, to laws regulating conditions of service
of its judicial officers. The first part of Article 235 is, as it were,
B
subject to a proviso which carves out an exception from the area
covered by it. Secondly, the Governor, in terms equally express, is
given the power by the proviso to Article 309 to frame rules on the
subject. A combined reading of Articles 235 and 309 will yield the
result that though the control over Subordinate Courts is vested in the
c High Court, ·the appropriate legislature, and until that legislature acts,
the Gov.ernor of the State, has the power to make rules regulating the
recruitment and the conditions of service of judicial officers of the
State. The power of the legislature or of the Governor thus to legislate
is subject to all other provisions of the Constitution like, for example,
D Articles 14 and 16. The question raised before us is .Primarily one of
the location of the power, not of its extent. The second part of Article
235 recognises the legislative power to provide for recruitment and
the conditions of service of the judicial officers of the State. The
substantive provision of Article 309, including its proviso, fixes the
location of the power. The opening words of Article 309 limit the
E amplitude of that power."
It was further declared that the mere power to pass a law or to make rules
having the force of law regulating the service conditions did not impinge upon
the control vested in the High Court over the district courts and the courts
subordinate thereto by Article 235. Such laws or the rules, as the case may be,
F can provide for general or abstract rules (of seniority in that case) leaving it
to the High Court to apply them to each individual case as and when the
occasion arises. The opening words of Article 309, "subject to provisions of
this Constitution" do not exclude the provision contained in the first part of
Article 235. It is ~us clear that though the legislature or the Governor has the
G .power to regulate seniority of judicial officers by laying down rules of general
application, yet that power cannot be exercised in a manner which will lead
to interference with the control vested in the High Court by the first part of
Article 235.
In The High Court of Punjab & Haryana, etc. etc. v. State of Haryana·
H & Ors., etc. etc., AIR (1975) SC 613 it was held that the power of appointment
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 403
of persons to be District Judges is vested in the Governor of the State under A
Article 233. The words "posting and promotion of district judge" in Article
·233 mean initial appointment by direct recruitment of persons to be district
judges and the posting mentioned therein the initial posting. Promotion of
district judges has been explained to mean promotion of persons to be district
judges.
B
In All India Judges Association case (supra) this Court no doubt held:
"The judicial service is not service in the sense of 'employment'. The
judges are not employees. As members of the judiciary, they exercise
the sovereign judicial power of the State .. They are holders of public
offices in the same way as the members of the council of ministers
c
and the members of the legislature. When it is said that in a
democracy such as ours, the executive, the legislature and the
judiciary constitute the three pillars of the State, what is intended' to
be conveyed is that the three essential functions of the State are
entrusted to the three organs of the State and each one of them in D
tum represents the authority of the State. However, those who
exercise the State power are the ministers, the legislatures and the
judges, and not the members of their staff who implement or assist
in implementing their decisions. The c~uncil of ministers or the
political executive is different from the secretarial staff oithe
E
administrative executive which carries out the decisions o the
political executive. Similarly, the legislators are different fro the
legislative staff. So also the Judges from the judicial staff. The p ity
is between the political executive, the legislators and the Judges and
not between the Judges and the administrative executive. In some
democracies like the U.S.A., members of some State judiciaries 1are F
elected as much as the members of the legislature and the heads of
the State. The Judges, at whatever level they may be, represent the
State and its authority unlike the administrative executive or the
members of the other services. The members of the other services,
therefore, cannot be placed on par with the members of the judiciary, G
either constitutionally or functionally.
This distinction between the Judges and the members of the
other services has to be constantly kept in mind for yet another
important reason. Judicial independence cannot be secured by
making mere solemn proclamations about it. It has to be secured H
404 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000) 2 S.C.R.
A both in substance and in practice. It is trite to say that those who
are in want cannot be free. Self-reliance is the foundation of
independence. The society has a stake in ensuring the independence
of the judiciary, and no price is too heavy to secure it. To keep the
judges in warit of the essential accoutrements and thus to impede
them in the proper discharge of their duties is to impair and whittle
B
away justice itself."
But it has to be kept in mind that in the same judgment this Court considered ·
the powers under Article 309 of the Constitution authorising the executive and
the legislative to prescribe the service conditions of the judiciary, however,
c rejecting the contention that in that regard judiciary did not have any say in
the matter. It was held:
"In view of the separation of the powers under the Constitution, and
the need to maintain the independence of the judiciary to protect and
promote democracy and the rule of law, it would have: been ideal
D if the most dominant power of the executive and the legislative over
the judiciary, viz., that of determining its service conditions had
been subjected to some desirable checks and balances. This is so
even if ultimately, the service conditions of the judiciary have to be
incorporated in and declared by the legislative enactments. But the
E mere fact that Art. 309 gives power to the executive· and the
legislature to prescribe the service conditions of the judiciary does not
mean that the judiciary should have no say in the matter. It would be
against the spirit of the Constitution to deny any rule to the judiciary
in that behalf, for theoretically it would not be impossible for the
executive or the legislature to turn and twist the tail of the judiciary
F by using the said power. Such a consequence would be against one
of the seminal mandates of the Constitution, namely, to maintain the
independence of the judiciary."
It may be noticed that the Alllndia Judges Assoeiation had filed Writ Petition
G (C) No.1022/89 in this Court praying therein:
"1. Uniformity in the Judicial cadres in the different States and Union
Territories;
2. An appropriate enhanced uniform age of retirement for the Judicial
H Officers throughout the country;
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 405
3. Uniform pay scales as far as possible to be fixed; A
4. Residential accommodation to be provided to every Judicial
Officer.
5. Transport facility to be made available and conveyance allowance
provided. B
6. Adequate perks by way of Library Allowance, Residential Office
Allowance, and Sumptuary Allowance to be provided.
7. Provision for inservice training to be made."
c
Upon consideration of various aspects including the reports of the Law
Commission, this Court recommended and directed that:
"(i) An all India Judicial Service should be set up and the Union of
India should take appropriate steps in this regard.
D
(ii) Steps should be taken to bring about uniformity in designation
of officers both in civil and criminal side by 31.3.1993.
(iii) Retirement age of judicial officers be raised to 60 years and
appropriate steps are to be taken by 31.12.1992. E
(iv) As and when the Pay Commissions/Committees are set up in the
States and Union Territories, the question of appropriate pay scales
of judicial officers be specifically referred and considered.
(v) A working library at the residence of every judicial officer has F
to be provided by 30.6.1992. Provision for sumptuary allowance as
stated has to be made.
(vi) Residential accommodation to every judicial officer has to be
provided and until State accommodation is available, Government
G
should provide requisitioned accommodation for them in the manner
indicated by 31.12.1992. In providing residential accommodation,
availability of an office room should be kept in view.
(vii) Every District Judge and Chief Judicial Magistrate should have
a State vehicle. Judicial officers in sets of 5 should have a pool H
406 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000) 2 S.C.R.
A vehicle and others would be entitled to suitable loans to acquire two
wheeler automobiles within different time limits as specified.
(viii) Inservice Institute should be set up within one year at the Central
and State or Union Territory level."
B
It may be remembered that the recommendations and directions were issued
by the Court in a writ petition in which no objection was raised regarding the
competence of the State to enact laws and make rules under Article 309 of the
Constitution. In exercise of its powers under Article 32 of the Constitution this
Court was clothed with the authority and powers vesting in it under Articles
c 141 and 142 of the Constitution.
The judgment in All India Judges Association case decided that the
issuance of directions by the Court did not have the effect of encroaching upon
the powers of the executive and the legislature under Article 309 of the
D Constitution. The Court referred to the recommendations of the Law
Commission made in the year 1958 and observed that the said recommendations
had been made to improve the system of justice and thereby to improve the
content and quality of justice administered by the Courts. It was noted that
"instead of improving, they have deteriorated making it necessary to update
E and better them to meet the needs of the present times". It was specifically
held:
"By giving directions in question, this Court has only called upon the
executive and the legislature to implement their imperative duties.
The Court do issue directions to the authorities to perform their
F obligatory duties whenever there is a failure on their part to discharge
them. The power to issue such mandates in proper cases belongs to
the Courts. As has been pointed out in the judgment under review,
this Court was impelled to issue the said directions firstly because the
executive and the legislature had failed in their obligations in that
G behalf. Secondly, the judiciary in this country is a unified institution
judicially though not administratively. Hence uniform designations
and hierarchy, with uniform service conditions are unavoidable
necessary consequences. The further directions given, therefore,
should not be looked upon as an encroachment on the powers of the
H executive and the legislature to determine the service conditions of
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 407
the judiciary. They are directions to perform the long overdue A
obligatory duties. The contention that the directions of this Court
supplant and bypass the constitutionally permissible modes for change
in the law, we think, wears thin if the true nature and character of the
directions are realised. The directions are essentially for the evolve-
ment of an appropriate national policy by the Government in regard B
to the judiciary's condition. The directions issued are mere aids and
incidental to and supplemental of the main direction and as a
transitional measure till a comprehensive national policy is evolved.
These directions, to the extent they go, are both reasonable and
necessary."
c
In Hari Datt Dainthla & Am: v. State of Himachal Pradesh & Ors., AIR
(1980) SC 1426 this Court held:
"Article 233 confers power on the Governor of the State to appoint
persons either by direct recruitment or by promotion from amongst
those in the judicial service as District Judges but this power is D
hedged in with the condition that it can be exercised by the Governor
in consultation with the High Court. In order to make this consul-
tation meaningful and purposive the Governor has to consult High
Court in respect of appointment of each person as District Judge
which includes an Additional District Judge and the opinion ex- E
pressed by the High Court must be given full weight. Article 235
invests control over subordinate courts including the officers man-
ning subordinate courts as well as the ministerial staff attached to
such courts in the High Court. Therefore, when promotion is to be
given to the post of District Judge from amongst those belonging to p
subordinate judicial service, the High Court unquestionably will be
competent to decide whether a person is fit for promotion and
consistent with its decision to recommend or not to recommend such
person. The Governor who would be acting on the advice of the
Minister would hardly be in a position to have intimate knowledge
G
about the quality and qualification of such person for promotion.
Similarly when a person is to be directly recruited as a District Judge
from the Bar the reasons for attaching full weight to the opinion of
the High Court for its recommendation in case of subordinate
judicial service .would mutatis mutandis apply because the perform-
ance of a member of the Bar is better known to the High Court than H
408 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000} 2 S.C.R.
--..
A the Minister or the Governor. In Chandra Mohan v. State of Uttar (
Pradesh, [1967] 1 SCR 77 at p.83 AIR 1966 SC (1987), a
Constitution Bench of this Court observed as under:
"The constitutional mandate is clear. The exercise of the power
of appointment by the Governor is conditioned by his consultation
B with the High Court, that is to say, he can only appoint a person
to the post of District Judge in consultation with the High Court.
The object of consultation is apparent. The High Court is expected
to know better than the Governor in regard to the suitability or
otherwise· of a person, belonging either to the 'judicial service'
c or to the Bar, to be ·appointed as a District Judge. Therefore, a
duty is enjoined on the Governor to make the appointment in
consultation with a body which is the appropriate authority to
give advice to him."
This view was reaffirmed in Cha11dramouleshwar Prasad v. Patna
D High Court, [1970] 2 SCR 666: AIR (1970) SC 270, observing:
"The High Court is the body which is intimately familiar with
the efficiency and quality of officers who are fit to be promoted
as District Judges. The High Court alone knows their merits as
E also demerits."
It was further held that in the absence of statutory rules regulating the
promotions from one post in subordinate judicial service to higher post in the
same servi.ce, the High Court would be the sole authority to decide the
question in exercise of its control under Article 235 which empowers the High
F Court with complete control over the subordinate courts. The existence of this
control comprehends the power to decide eligibility for promotion from one
post in the subordinate judicial service to higher post in the same service
except where one reaches the stage of giving promotion when Article 233
would be attracted and the power to give promotion would be in Governor
G hedged in with the condition that the Governor can act after consultation with
the High Court which has been understood to mean on the recommendation
of the High Court. If the High Court felt that the post of District Judge being
a very responsible post should be filled up by promotion only on merits, it is
incumbent upon it to propose necessary rules and get them enacted under
H Article 309.
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 409
In Chandra Mohan v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors., [1967] 1 SCR 77 A
this Court held that the Constitution contemplates an independent judiciary in
the States and in order to place the independence of the subordinate judiciary
beyond question, provides, in Article 50 of the Directive Principles for the
separation of the judiciary from the executive and secures such independence
by enacting Articles 233 to 237 in Chapter VI of the Constitution. Under these B
Articles the appointment of the District Judges in any State are to be made by
the Governor of the State, from the two sources, namely, : (i) service of the
Union or of the State and (ii) members of the Bar. The words "service of the
Union or of the State" do not mean any other service of the Union or the State
except the judicial service as defined in Article 236(b) of the Constitution. C
This Court specifically held:
"Appointments of persons to be, and the posting and promotion of,
district judges in any state shall be made by the Governor of the State.
There are two sources of recruitment, namely, (i) service of the Union
or of the State, and (ii) members of the Bar. The said judges from the D ',
first source are appointed in consultation with the High Court and
those from the second source are appointed on the recommendation
of the High Court. But in the case of appointments of persons to the
judicial service other than as district judges, they will be made by the
Governor of the State ·in accordance with rules framed by him in E
consultation with the High Court and the Public Service Commission.
But the High Court has control over all the district courts and courts
subordinate thereto, subject to certain prescribed limitations.
So far there is no dispute. But the real conflict rests on the
F
question whether the Governor can appoint as district judges persons
from services other than the judicial service; that is to say, can he
appoint a person who is in the police, excise, revenue or such other
service as a district judge? The acceptance of this position would take
us back to the pre-independence days and that too to the conditions
prevailing in the Princely States. In the Princely States one used to G
come across appoin~ments to the judicial service from police and
other departments, .This would also cut across the well-knit scheme
of the Constitution !ind the principle underlying it, namely, the
judiciary shall be an independent service. Doubtless, if Art. 233( 1)
stood alone, it may .be argued that the Governor may appoint any H
410 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A person as a district judge, whether legally qualified or not, ~if he
belongs to any service under the State. But Art. 233(1) is nothing. •.
more than a declaration of the general power of the Governor in the
matter of appointment of district judges. It does not lay down the
qualifications of the candidates to be appointed or denote the sources
B from which the recruitment has to be made. But the sources of
recruitment are indicated in cl.(2) thereof. Under cl.(2) of Art. 233 r,.'
two sources are given, namely, (i) persons in the service of the Union
or of the State, and (ii) advocate or pleader. Can it be said that in the
context of Ch.VI of Part VI of the Constitution, 'the service of the
Union or of the State' means any service of the Union or of the State
c or does it mean the judicial service of the Union or of the State? The
__/setting, viz., the chapter dealing with subordinate courts, in which the
\ expression 'the service' appears indicates that the service mentioned
· therein is the service pertaining to courts. That apart, Art. 236(b)
defines the expression 'judicial service' to mean a service consisting
D exclusively of persons intended to fill the post of district judge and
other civil judicial posts inferior to the post of district judge. If this
definition, instead of appearing in Art. 236, is placed as a clause
before Art. 233(2), there cannot be any dispute that 'the service' in
Art. 233(2) can only mean the judicial service. The circumstances that
E the definition of 'judicial service' finds a place in a subsequent Article
does not necessarily lead to a contrary conclusion. The fact that in
Art. 233(2) the expression 'the service' is used whereas in Art. 234
and 235 the expression 'judicial service' is found is not decisive of
the question whether the expression 'the service' in Art. 233(2) must
F be something other than the judicial service, for, the entire chapter is
dealing with the judicial service. The definition is exhaustive of the
service. Two expressions in the definition bring out the idea that the
judicial service consists of hierarchy bf judicial officers starting from
the lowest and ending with district judges. The expressions 'exclu- "
'
sively' and 'intended' emphasise the fact that the judicial service
G
consists only of persons intended to fill up the posts of district judges
and other civil judicial posts and that is the exclusive service of
judicial officers. Having defined 'judicial service' in exclusive terms,
having provided for appointments to that service and having entrusted
the control of the said service to the care of the High Court, the
H
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 411
makers of the world Constitution have not conferred a blanket power A
on the Governor to appoint any person from any service as a district
judge.
Reliance is placed upon the decision of this court in Rameshwar
Dayal v. State of Punjab, (1961] 2 SCR 874 in support of the
B
contention that 'the service in Art. 233(2) means any service under
-- the State. The question in that case was, whether a person whose name
was on the roll of advocates of the East Punjab High Court could be
appointed as a district judge. In the course of the judgment S.K. Das,
J., speaking for the Court, observed:
c
"Article 233 is a self contained provision regarding the
appointment of District Judges. As to a person who is already in
the service of the Union or of the State, no special qualifications
are laid down and under cl.(1) the Governor can appoint such a
person as a district judge in consultation with the relevant High
D
Court. As to a person not already in service, a qualification is
laid down in cl. (2) and all that is required is that he shouk! be
an advocate or pleader of seven years' standing."
This passage is nothing more than a summary of the relevant
.. provisions. The question whether 'the service' in Art. 233(2) is any
service of the Union or of the State did not arise for consideration
in that case nor did the Court express any opinion thereon.
E
We, therefore, construe the expression 'the service' in cl. (2) of
Art. 233 as the judicial service."
F
There is no dispute that the power under Article 309 conferred upon
the legislature and the executive is subject to the opening words of the
Article. The legislature and the executive cannot enact any law or make any
rule which is in violation of any other provision of the Constitution. If any
law or rule is made contravening any other provision of the Constitution G
including Articles 14, 15, 16, 19, 124, 217, 233, 234, and 235, such law
_or rule shall be void. This Article, however, does not debar the legislature
or the executive to make provision With respect to the matters which are not
in the covered field of other provisions _of the Constitution. Various
provisions of the Constitution including Part III Chapter VI, Part XIV H
•
412 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A Chapter I and Part XI Chapter I read with Seventh Schedule are to be read
conjointly and interpreted harmoniously to make the various organs of the
State function in their respective fields subject to limitations imposed by the
Constitution itself including the power of the courts of judicial review. It
cannot, therefore, be accepted that the judicial service is such an independent
B service which deprives the State Legislature and the executive to enact laws·
and make rules with respect to matters mentioned in Article 309 but not
covered under Articles 233 to 236 of the Constitution. The provisions of Part
ill Chapter VI and Part XIV Chapter I have to be undei;stood as complementary
and supplementary to each other. Exercise of power under Article 309 is
further curtailed by the constitutional mandate that no law be enacted and
C· rule made which in any way affects the working of independent judiciary
in the country.
Such principles shall, however, be not applicable in the case of higher
judiciary constituted and established under Part V Chapter IV and Part VI
D Chapter V. The Supreme Court of India and the High Courts in the country
are the creation of the Constitution and the judges presiding over such courts,
constitutional functionaries. The higher judiciary, therefore, cannot be equated
with the "public services" contemplated under Part XIV Chapter I of the
Constitution. The conditions of eligibility for appointment to the Supreme
Court are such conditions as are prescribed under Article 124 of the
E Constitution and for the High Court as prescribed under Article 217 of the
Constitution. These conditions, if allowed to be amended, modified or
substituted by way of legislation in terms of Article 309 of the Constitution,
would render the Union and the State judiciar;Y defunct which, may amount
to clipping its wings resulting in the destruction of independence of the higher
F judiciary as contemplated by "the Constitution framers. The conditions for
appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the High Courts may not
be amendable even by a constitutional amendment as the same is likely to
tamper with the Indian judiciary and thereby adversely affect the basic
features of the Constitution. The Constitution envisages a single judiciary,
G uniformity in Fundamental laws, civil and criminal, and a common All India
Service to man important posts. Speaking on the nature of the constitutional
scheme Dr. Ambedkar in his speech delivered on November 4, 1948 in the
Constituent Assembly had said:
"A dual judiciary, a duality of legal codes and a duality of civil
H services, as I said, are the logical consequences of a dual polity
•
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 413
which is inherent in a federation. In the USA, the Federal Judiciary A
and the ·state Judiciary are separate and independent of each other.
The Indian Federation though a Dual Policy has no Dual Judiciary
at all. The High Courts and the Supreme Court form one single
integrated Judiciary having jurisdiction and providing remedies in all
cases arising under the constitutional law, the civil law or the B
criminal law. (Constitutent Assembly Debates. Vol.7 (1948-49) at
pp.34,36-37)."
This Court in S.P. Gupta's case (Supra) held that:
"An analysis ofthe various provisions of the Constitution and other c
laws having a bearing on the question shows that every High Court
in India is an integral part of a single Indian judiciary and judges
who hold the posts of judges of High Courts belong to a single
family even though there may be a slight variation in two of the
authorities who are required to be consulted at the time of the D
appointment. The provisions dealing with the High Courts are found
in Chapter V in Part VI of the Constitution containing provisions
governing the States and the salaries of the judges of a High Court
are paid out of the funds of the State or States over which it exercises
jurisdiction. Yet it is difficult to say that each High Court is E
independent of the other High Courts. A perusal of the other
provisions in that Chapter shows that the State Legislatures and the
State Gov.ernments have very little to do so far as the organisation
of the High Courts is concerned."
Judges of the High Court do not constitute a single All India Cadre or a
F
'judicial service' which could be subjected to the Legislature in terms of
Article 309 of the Constitution. While dealing with the High Court Judges
Transfer case, Bhagwati, J. (as His Lordship then was) held that " .... the
judiciary should be in a country like India which is marching along the road
to social justice with the banner of democracy and the rule of law, for the G
principle of independence of the judiciary is not an abstract conception but it
is a living faith which must derive its inspiration from the constitutional
charter and its nourishment and sustenance from the constitutional values. It
is necessary for every Judge to remember constantly and continually that our
Constitution is not a non-aligned rational charter. It is a document of social H
414 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A .. revolution which casts an obligation on every instrumentality including the
Judiciary, which is a separate but equal branch of the State, to transfo?Jl the
status quo ante into a new human order in which justice, social, economic and
political will inform all institutions of national life and there will be equality
of status and opportunity for all. The judiciary has, therefore, a socio-
B ·. economic destination and a creative function. It has to use the words of
Glanville Austin, to become an arm of the socio-economic revolution and
perform an active role calculated to bring socialjustice within the reach of the
common man. It cannot remain content to act merely as an umpire but it must
be functionally involved in the goal of socio-economic justice". In these
appeals, even the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants has not
c tried to compare or equate the subordinate judiciary with the distinct and .
independent higher judiciary comprising of the judges of Supreme Court and
the High Courts. The apprehension expressed on behalf of the respondents that
if allowed to enact laws like the impugned Bihar Act, the Union Legislature
may by law or amendment of the Constitution provide reservations in the
D higher judiciary with the object of controlling it and thereby demolishing the
independence of judicary, is thus apparently misconceived besides being far-
fetched.
In the present appeals, it is conceded before us by all the parties concerned
that appointments to the posts of District Judges are governed by the Bihar
E Superior Judicial Service Rules, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as "1951 Rules")
which have, admittedly, been made by the Governor of Bihar in exercise of
powers conferred upon him by the proviso to Article 309 read with Article 233
of the Constitution. Reference to Article 233 of the Constitution only indicates
that before making the rules the High Court had been consulted. Article 233 .
F of the Constitution itself does not envisage the making of rules either by the
Governor or by the High Court. Rule 5 of the 1951 Rules provides that
appointment to the Bihar Superior Judicial Service shall, in the first instance,
ordinarily be to the post of Additional District & Sessions Judge and shall be
made by the Governor in consultation with the High Court:
G
"(a) by direct recruitment from among persons qualified and recom-
mended by the High Court for appointment under clause (2) of Article
233 of the Constitution; or
(b) by promotion, from among members of the Bihar Judicial
H Service."
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 415
Of the Posts in the cadre of the service, 2/3rd are to be filled by promotion A
and l/3rd by direct recruitment. The State Government may, in consultation
with the High Court, deviate from the said proportion in either direction. Rule
3 read with Schedule provides the sanctioned strength of the service whereas
other provisions relate to promotion, pay, allowances and seniority. There is
no dispute that these rules have been and are being acted upon till date i.e. B
for about half a century. The High Court was, therefore, not justified in
holding that the law made under Article 309 would not apply to the judicial
service. If the rules made by the executive under Article 309 have been
applied and acted upon, no objection could be taken to the sovereign powers
of the legislature to enact and make laws with respect to the judicial
service · in exercise of its power under first part of Article 309 of ·the c
Constitution.
It is also admitted that for appointments to the posts in the judicial/·
service other than the District Judges, the State Governor, in exercise of his
powers conferred upon him under Article 234 of the Constitution, after D
consultation with the High Court of Judicature at Patna and the Bihar Public
Service Commission has made the rules called as "Bihar Judicial Service
(Recruitment) Rules, 1955" (hereinafter referred to as "1955 Rules"). Rule
2 of the said Rules provides that the recruitment to the post of munsiff shall
be made in accordance with the rules and recruitment to the post of E
subordinate judge shall be made by the High Court by promotion of munsiffs
confirmed under Rule 24 and appointed under Rule 26. Rule 3 authorises the
Governor to decide in each year the number of vacancies in the post of
munsiff to be filled by appointments to be made on a substantive basis or
on a temporary basis or both. The Bihar Public Service Commission is
F
obliged to announce in each year in such manner as they think fit the number
of vacancies to be filled in that year by direct recruitment on the basis of
a competitive examination for which applications are required to be invited
from candidates eligible for appointments under the rules. The Commission
has the power to fix the limit in any particular year as .to -the eligibility of
the candidates to be admitted to the written examination and if the 11umber G
of candidates exceeds to the limit fixed, the Commission may mfike a
preliminary selection of candidates to be admitted to the written examination,
on the basis of their academic records. No candidate of the Scheduled Castes
or the Scheduled Tribes who is otherwise eligible under the Rules can be
excluded from appearing at the written examination. Rules 6 provides: H
416 · SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A "6. A candidate may be of either sex, and must -
(a) be under 31 years and over 22 years of age on the 1st day of
August preceding the year in which the examination is held:
Provided that a candidate belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a
B . Scheduled Tribe must be under 36 years and over 22 years of
age on the said date:
Provided further that no candidate who does not belong to a
Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe shall be allowed to take
more than five chances at the examination;
c
(b) be a graduate in Law of a University recognised by the
Governor or a Barrister-at-Law or a member of the faculty of
advocates in Scotland, or an Attorney on the rolls of a High
9
Court, or .possess other educational qualifications which the
D Governor may, after consultation with the High Court and the
Commissions, decide to be equivalent to those prescribed
above; and
(c) be a practitioner at the Bar of at least one year's continuous
standing on the date of the advertisement."
E
Rule 6A provides that no person who has more than one wife living shall
be eligible for appointment to the service. Rule 7 provides that a candidate
must be of sound health, good physique and active habits and free from any
physical defect likely to interfere with· the efficient performance of the duties
F of a member of the Service. With his application a candidate is required to
submit the required documents as detailed in Rule 9. The examination is to
be held according to syllabus specified in Appendix C to the Rules which
are liable to alteration from time to time by the Government after consultation
with the High Court and the Commission. The Commission has the discretion
G to fix the qualifying marks in any or all subjects at the written examination
in consultation with the Patna High Court. The minimum qualifying marks
for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes shall not
be higher than 35 per cent unless the number of such persons at the written
examination according to the standards applied for other candidates is
H considerably in excess of the number of candidates required to fill the
•
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 417
vacancies reserved for the Scheduled Casts and the Scheduled Tribes. The A
Commission is obliged to consult the Chief Justice of the High Court in the
matter of selection of examiners for the Law papers prescribed for the written
examination. Viva-voce test of the candidates is to be held under Rule 17.
The Chief Justice is authorised to appoint an officer to represent the High
Court at the viva-voce test. Rule 20 provides that Commission shall, while B
submitting the recommendations, consider the claims of qualified candidates
belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. If the list of
nominees submitted under Rule 19 does not contain an adequate number of
candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, the
Commission shall submit a supplementary list nominating a sufficient
number of such candidates as in their opinion attain the required standard
c
of qualifications and are in all respect suitable for appointment to the
service.
It has been conceded before us that to give effect to Rule 20 of the
Rules, the Commission ,and the High Court have been acting upon the D
Government orders issued from time to time making reservations to the extent
of 24% in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. It is
undisputed that the 1955 Rules were made strictly in accordance with the
requirement of Article 234 of the Constitution after proper consultation with
the High Court and the_ Public Service Commission. E
It appears that the controversy arose only when the State Government
insisted to make reservations in the Superioi: Judicial Service which was
vehemently resisted by the High Court.
The facts disclosed in the appeal entitled State of Bihar v. Deepak Singh
F
& Ors. indicate that on 30.1.1991 the State Government consented the High
Court and Bihar Public Service Commission regarding making reservations
in the judicial service. The Public Service Commission vide its letter No. 112
dated 30.1.1991 communicated its consent regarding the proposed amendment
in the BiDar Judicial Service (Recruitment) Rules, 1955. Howeve~. the High G
Court vide Memo No. 5999 dated 16.4.1991 informed the Government that
"the court, in the interests of judiciary, is unable to agree to the proposal of
the State Government". The aforesaid letters exchanged between the State
Government, High Court and Public Service Commission obviously indicat;!
that the State Government had intended to amend the rules already framed in H
418 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A exercise of the powers vesting in the Governor under Article 234 of the
Constitution. In view of the resistance of the High Court, being one of the
consultees in terms of Article 234, the State of Bihar opted to promulgate an
Ordinance called "The Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services
(for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes)
B- Ordinance, 1991" under Article 213 of the Constitution. The aforesaid Ordinance
was thereafter substituted by the Bihar Act No.3 of 1992 which was enforced
with immediate effect except Section 4 which was declared to have come into .._
force with effect from 1st November, 1994. The Reservation Ordinance was
challenged in C.W.J.C. No.76i9/9L:,;flf~··~alidhy of letter dated 1.10.1990
whereby directions were issued to the effect that the vacancies of 24th Judicial
c Competitive Examination shall be filled in accordance with the said Ordinance
were also challenged. During the pendency of tqe aforesaid writ petition, the
Ordinance was replaced by an Act No.3 of fo92~ The High Court allowed the
writ petition vide the order impugned in this appeal holding that the impugned
Ordinance/Act as also 'the letter dated 1.lQ.1990. In so far as its applicability
D to the State is co~cerned, it was ultra vires and contrary to the mandate of
Article 234 of the Constitution.
Similarly the facts revealed in Civil Appeal No.9072/96 indicate that
when on 13.10.1993 the State Government decided to fill up the vacancies of
E Additional District Judges through fresh advertisement as per directions, the
State Government on 16.11.1993 requested the High Court to send the
vacancies categorywise in accordance with the provisions of Act of 1991. On
16.12.1993 the High Court informed the State Government that fresh
advertisement be issued under Rule 5(a) and 6 of the 1951 Rules. It was further '
recommended that for eligibility the minimum age of the applicants be 35
F
years and maximum 50 year. The Government was further informed by the
High Court that the 1991 Act will neither be applicable nor followed in the
matter of direct recruitment from the Bar. No preference be given to any
person on the basis of caste, religion and sex. On 4.1.1994 the High Court was
informed by the Government that the provisions of the Act of 1991 will also
G be applicable to the appointments in the Superior Judicial Service in the State
of Bihar. The High Court was requested to send the vacancies reservation-
wise. On 25.2.1994, the High Level Meeting under the Chairmanship of the
Chief Secretary to. the Government of Bihar was held in which the Secretary
(Law) and Registrar of the High Court also participated. In this meeting a
H request wa~ made to the High Court to send upto date vacancies in accordance
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 419
with the Reservation Act as the non compliance was apprehended to lead to A
an offence under the Act. The High Court on 5th April, 1994 reiterated its
position and vide its letter addressed to the Additional Secretary to the
Government of Bihar intimated:
"With reference to your above mentioned letter on the subject noted B·
above, I am directed to say that the State Government has already
been informed about the resolution adopted by the Court that in the
matter of appointment of Additional District and Sessions Judge
direct from the Bar, merit would be the sole criteria and no preference
will be given to any candidate on the basis of caste, religion or sex. C
The resolution adopted by the Court does further state that without
accepting the provision of the Bihar Reservation of Vacancy in Posts
and Services (for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and other
Backward Classes) Act, 1991, the Court are always prepared to give
preference to a candidate belonging to the Scheduled Caste or
D
Scheduled Tribe, provided that he is found to be of equal merit with
other candidates.
It needs to be appreciated that the post of Additional District and
Sessions Judge, in the Superior Judicial Service, carries with it a
greater responsibility in the matter of administration of justice. The E
post demands that the holder of the post should be a person of
appreciable merit and requisite calibre to perform the functions of a
Senior Judicial Officer."
On 1.9.1994, the High Court again intimated to the State Government of its F
position. It is to be noticed that before this date the State Government had
issued advertisement on 16.6.1994 inviting applications for recruitment of
Additional District and Sessions Judge from the Bar reserving post for the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, backward classes, etc. to the extent
of the limits prescribed under the Reservation Act. Aggrieved by the G
advertisement/notification respondent's Advocates filed the writ petition
seeking a declaration that the provisions of the Reservation Act were void and
inoperative insofar as they relate to the Bihar Superior Judicial Service. The
aforesaid writ petition was disposed of vide the judgment impugned in this
appeal.
H
420 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A It is thus evident that having failed to get the consent of the High Court
in framing the Rules either under Article 234 or Article 309 read with Article
233 of the Constitution, resort was had to tbe issuance of Ordinance and
thereafter enacting the impugned Act. This unfortunate position arose on
account of the antagonistic and belligerent approaches adopted by the State
B Government and the High Court. Had the .aforesaid two wings of the State
acted fairly ~ealising their obligations under th~Constitution, the confrontation
could have been avoided. Such.a recourse was depricated by this Court in B.S.
Yadav's case (supra) observing "this unfortunate position has arisen largely
because of the failure of the State Governments to take the High Court into
confidence while amending the Rules of Service. We must express our concern
c at the manner in which the Rules of the Superior Judicial Service have been
amended by the Governor of Punjab and particularly by the Governor of
Haryana". In that case the Rules had been am~~ded despite the opposition of
the High Court and amendment in Haryana was made in order to spite a single
judicial officer who was a direct recruit.
D
Both the State Government .and the Patna High Court failed to realise
their constitutional obligations in the matter of public service. The insistence
of the State Government could have been substituted by persuations and
antagonism by the High Court could have been avoided by adopting rational
E approach realising the responsibility of the State of the constitutional
obligations mandating them to make reservations in favour of the weaker
sections of the society. It cannot be denied that the Reservation Policy has
been accepted to be a part of the Indian Parliamentary Democracy as a
safeguarding measure to protect the interests of lhe Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes. Reservations have been made in the Constitution to
F
safeguard the interests of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes keeping in
mind the proportions of their population. It cannot be denied that such weaker
sections of the society have been subjected to decades of exploitation,
persecution and discrimination by the hostile dominating classes, having been
kept outside the sphere of the mainstream for centuries and deprived of their
G due share in the polity of the State. They were acknowledged to be given
a special treatment under the Constitution. The reservation on the basis of
the caste has a long history in our country. Good or bad the reservation being
the part of the Constitution, the High Court should not have adopted an
adamant attitude of totally refusing to concede to the request of the State
H Government\ for making reservations for the weaker sections of the society.
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 421
The hostility between two wings of the State have not, in any way, A
strengthened the democratic set up nor has it benefitted any section of the
Society or institution. It is to be noticed that the reservations made by the
impugned Act were not challenged on the ground of being either violative
of Fundamental Rights or contrary to the other provisions of the Constitution,
except to the extent noticed hereinabove. B
Relying upon judgment in K.N. Chandra Sekhara & Ors. v. State of
Mysore, AIR (1963) Mysore 292 and M./. Nadaf v. The State of Mysore, AIR
(1967) Mysore 77 the High Court videthe order impugned in Deepak Kumar's
case held:
c
"Article 234 directs the appointment of persons to certain cadres of
the judicial service of the State only in accordance with the Rules
made under that Article and which appoints the Governor of the
State, the authority to make these rules after consultation with the
High Court and the Public Service Commission. It is manifest from D
Article 234 of the Constitution that the constitutional intent was that
appointments to the judicial services in a State, unlike other State
services, should be regulated only by rules made under that Article
and not by a law made by the Legislature of the State, which was
conferred power by Article 309 to make laws for recruitment to other E
services. The judicial service was selected for special treatment and
appointments to it were excepted out of the operation of Article 309,
and out of the orbit of ordinary Legislative Control. Article 234
incorporates a conunand of the Constitution on the subject of
appointments to the cadres of the judicial service referred to in it and F
constitutes the Governor in a sense a select Legislative organ for the
enactment of rules for the accomplishment of the Constitutional
purpose. The status of the rules so enacted is as high as that of a
law made by the Legislature under Article 309 and of the rules made
under the proviso to it. The attributes of a Governor to enact rules G
under Article 234 therefore resemble those of a Legislature enacting
legislation in its own legislative field. The similitude between the
power of the Legislature and the power of the Governor being so
obvious, it is clear that the bounds of permissible delegation in each
case should also be similar."
H
422 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A It cannot be disputed that the judicial service has been given a special
treatment under the Constitution and the appointments to the judicial service
can be made only in accor~ance with the rules made by the Governor under ·
Article 234 after consultation with the State Public Service Commission and
the High Court exercising jurisdiction in relation to such State. It follows,
B therefore, that the Governor or the executive have no right, power or authority
to make rules with respect to the recruitment of persons other than the District
Judges to the judicial service ·of the State under Article 309 of the
Constitution. Rules governing the service conditions of such persons in the
judicial service can be made by the Governor only in the manner as
C prescribed under Article 234 of the Constitution. It is, however, difficult to
accept the finding of the High Court that the status of the Rules enacted under
Article 234 of the Constitution is as high as that of law made by the
legislature under Article 309. It cannot be accepted that the attributes of a
Governor to enact Rules under Article 234 resemble those of a legislature
enacting legislation in its own legislative field and have overriding effect. The
D
power of the legislature to make law regulating the recruitment and conditions
of service for persons appointed to public services and posts in connection
with the affairs of Union or of any State under Article 309 of the Constitution
is only subject to the other provisions of Constitution which have been
noticed hereinbefore. Rules made under the delegated legislation cannot be
E termed to be such other provisions of the Constitution. It is not only Article
234 which confers power upon the Governor to make Rules in the manner
prescribed but vanous other provisions including Article 309 which authorise
him to make rules for the purposes envisaged and the restrictions and
restraints imposed by the Constitution itself. It is settled position of law that
F the Legislature cannot part with its essential legislative function. A surrender
of such essential function would amount to abdication of legislative powers
in the eyes of law. No rule or law made by virtue of delegated legislation
can supersede or override the powers exercised or the law made by the
ddegator of power, the sovereign legislative, in exercise of its constitutional
G right with respect to a matter or subject over which it has otherwise plenary
power of legislation:
In Re: Article 143, Constitution of India and Delhi laws Act (1912) Etc.,
AIR (1951) SC 332, Kania, CJ, after dealing with various cases of foreign
H courts found that the Indian Legislature had plenary powers to legislate on the
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 423
subjects falling within its powers under the Constitution. He further observed, A
"every power given to a delegate can be normally called back. There can
hardly be a case where this cannot be done because the legislative body which
confers powers on the delegate has always the power to revoke that authority
and it appears difficult to visualise a situation in which such power can be
irrevocably lost". Referring to the constitutional scheme in this country, Kania, B
CJ held:
"Under the new Constitution of 1950, the British Parliament, i.e. an
outside authority, has no more control over the Indian Legislature.
That Legislature's powers are defined and controlled and the
limitations thereon prescribed only by the Constitution of India. But c
the scope of its legislative power has not become enlarged by the
provisions found in the Constitution of India. While the Constitution
creates the Parliament and although it does not in terms expressly
vest the legislative powers in the Parliament exclusively, the whole
scheme of the Constitution is based on the concept that the D
legislative functions of the Union will be discharged by the Parlia-
ment and by no other body. The essential of the legislative functions,
viz., the determination of the legislative policy and its formulation
as a rule of conduct, are still in the Parliament or the State
Legislature, as the case may be and nowhere else. I take that view E
because of the provisions of Article 357 and Article 22(4) of the
Constitution of India. Article 356 provides against the contingency
of the failure of the constitutional machinery in the States. On a
proclamation to that effect being issued, it is provided in Article
357(a) that the power of the legislature of the State shall be F
exercisable by or under the authority of the Parliament, and it
shall be competent for the Parliament to confer on the President the
power of the ' legislature of the State to make laws "and to
authorise the President to delegate, subject to such conditions as he
may think fit to impose, the powers so conferred to any other
G
authority to be specified by him in that behalf." Sub-clause (2) runs
as follows:
"For Parliament or for the President or other authority in whom
such authority to make law conferring powers and imposing
duties, or authorising the confe1ring of powers and the H
424 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A imposition of duties, upon the Union or officers and authorities
thereof."
It was contended that on the breakdown of such machinery authority
had to be given to the Parliament or the President, firstly, to make
laws in respect of subjects on which the State Legislature alone could
B
otherwise make laws and, secondly, ·to empower the Parliament or
the President to make the executive officers of the State Government
to act in accordance with the laws which the Parliament or the
President may pass in such emergency. It was argued that for this
purpose the word 'to delegate' is used. I do not think this argument
c is sound. Sub-clause (2) relates to the power of the ·President to use
the State executive offices. But under clause (a) Parliament is given
power to confer on the President the power of the 'legislature' of
the State 'to make laws'. Article 357(1)(a) thus expressly gives
power to the Parliament to authorise the President 'to delegate his
D legislative powers'. If powers of legislation include the power of
delegation to any authority there . was no occasion to make this
additional provisions in the Article at all. The wording of this clause
therefore supports the contention that normally a power of legislation
does not include the power of delegation."
E
Fazal Ali, J. on the point relating to the functions of the Legislature and its
authority to delegate held:
"The legislature must normally discharge its primary legislative
function itself and not through others {2) Once it is established that
F
it has sovereign powers within a certain sphere, it must follow as
a corollary that it is free to legislate within that sphere in any way
which appears to it to be the best way to give effect to its intention
and policy in making a particular law, and that it may utilize any
outside agency to any extent it finds necessary for doing things
G which it is unable to do itself or finds it inconvenient to do. In other
words, it can do everything which is ancillary to and necessary for
the full and effective exercise of its power of legislation. (3) It cannot
abdicate its legislative functions, and therefore, while entrusting
power to an outside agency, it must see that such agency acts as a .
H subordinate authority and does not become a parallel legislature. (4)
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J) 425
The doctrine of separation of powers and the judicial interpretation A
it has received in America ever since the American Constitution was
framed, enables the American courts to check undue and excessive
delegation but the Courts of this couniry are not committed to that
doctrine and cannot apply it in the same way as it has been applied
in America. Therefore, ~here are· only two main checks in this B
country on the power of the legislature to delegate, these being its
'- good sense and the principle that it should not cross the line beyond
which delegation amounts to abdication and self-effacement'."
Mahajan, J. was of the view that the Parliament being omnipotent despot,
apart from being a legislature simpliciter, it can, in exercise of its sovereign C
power delegate its legislative functions or even create new bodies conferring
on them power to make .laws. Whether it exercises its power of delegation
of legislative power in its capacity as a mere legislature or in its capacity
as omnipotent despot, its actions were not subject to judicial scrutiny. In the
same case Mukherjee, J. held that the legislature cannot part with its essential D
legislative function. A surrender of this essential function would amount to
abdication of its power in the eyes of law.
In Hotel Balaji & Ors., etc. etc. v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors.,
etc. etc., AIR (1993) SC 1048 this Court held that legislative competence of
E
a legislature to enact a particular provision in the Act cannot be made to
depend upon the rule or rules, as the case may be, at a given point of time.
Conferment of power upon the Governor to make rules in the manner
prescribed under Article 234 of the Constitution cannot be interpreted to mean
that the constitutional makers had intended to take away the power of the
legislature, admittedly, conferred upon it under· Part XI Chapter I read with F
Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. Such an interpretation, if accepted,
would be contrary to the settled principles relating to interpretation of
Statutes. Whereas it is true that the Governor of a State cannot make rules
with respect to subjects covered by Article 234 in any other manner, (Article
309) it cannot, however, be accepted that such power of the Governor can G
be equated with the sovereign power of the legislature to make laws with
respect to the assigned field. Law making power of the legislature with
respect to judicial service without encroaching upon the subjects covered by
·Article 233 to 236 has impliedly been acknowledged by this Court in B.S.
Yadav's Case (supra). H
426 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A The High Court of Mysore in K.N. Chandra Sekhar' s case (supra) while
referring to Articles 233 and 309 had made certain observations which have
been relied upon by Patna High Court in the impugned judgment. In that case
the High Court of Mysore in fact was not called upon to decide the issue of
the finality of the rules made under Article 234 of the Constitution in relation
B to a law made under Article 309. In the case before Mysore High Court, the
dispute had arisen with respect to the appointments to the posts of munsiffs
in judicial service of the State of Mysore. The Public Service Commission of ·
the State conducted a competitive examination under the rules made for the
purposes by the Governor of the State under Article 234 and proviso to Article
309 of the Constitution. The candidates who took the examination but did not
c succeed challenged the notification of the Public Service Commission on the
ground of its being without lawful authority. The notification of the Public
Service Commission was impeached on the ground that since the rules did not
prescribe the criterion by which the success of candidates should be determined,
there was no criterion by which the Commission could have determined
D whether a candidate has succeeded or failed and it was not upon the
Commission to prescribe for itself a criterion not found in the rules. The
Commission had applied a formula for ascertaining the names of the successful.
candidates by fixing 45% as qualifying marks for the candidates belonging to
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and 55% for others. It was further
E claimed that power of the Governor to fix the qualifying marks was impliedly
delegated to the Commission. In that context the High Court examined Article
234 of the Constitution and observed:
"It is reasonably clear that the purpose of Article 234 is that the
collective wisdom of the Governor, the High Court and the Public
F
Service Commission should regulate appointments referred to in that
article, and it is plain that no rule made without the required
consultation can have any effect or potency. It is obvious that within
the range of the many matters requiring such collective deliberation
would fall a multitude of subjects such as the determination of the I
G question whether the appointments should be made on the basis of I
an examination, and if so, of what pattern, the selection of the subjects
in which the candidates should be examined, the determination of the ·.
qualifying and maximum marks, the appointment of the authority to
conduct the examination, the qualifications and disqualifications of
H the candidates and the like."
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 427
...
It further held: A
"If, on its true construction, Art. 234 does not require that standard
to be specified or formulated by a rule, then alone, could it be said
that the Governor could delegate that function to another. That
article is a special constitutional provision removing from the
provisions of Art. 309 certain appointments to the judiciary and
B
enjoining the Governor to make them in accordance with rules
enacted in consultation with the High Court and the Public Servite
Commission. What are the matters about which the Governor is
required to consult the High Court and the Public Service Commis-
sion. The Public Service Commission, it is obvious, was required C
to be consulted in regard to matters in which it had special
competence to offer advice. The High Court was required to be
consulted so that its advice may be obtaineo as to how and in what
manner the appointments to a service under its control may be
satisfactorily made." D
It was conceded that there was no rule prescribing the qualifying
marks. Nor was the power to determine those qualifying marks expressly
delegated to any legislative authority. In that case the State had prayed for
placing the construction on Article 320(3) to the effect that the clause did E
not require the Governor or the legislature functioning under Article 309 of
the Constitution to consult the Public Service Commission' for determination
of the qualifying marks and that it was open to the legislature or the
Governor, as the case may, to determine and fix those qualifying marks
without such consultation. The court found that the provisions of Article
320(3) were so comprehensive which did not a~t the interpretation sought F
for. The determination of qualifying marks was held to be an integral part
of scheme for an examination because the examination was the method
applied for recruitment for testing the suitability of candidates to the judicial
service. The Court observed that "the construction suggested by Mr.
Advocate General which makes it possible for the legislature or the Governor G
to decline to consult Public Service Commission on the determination of the
qualifying marks and to that extent diminishes the utility of the construction
and makes it futile and illusory, cannot merit acceptance". Consultati_on_
required under Article 234 was held to extend to everyone of the matters
on which Article 320(3) enjoined consultation. The qualifying marks secured H
A
428 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
in a competitive examination prescribed by rules made under Article 234
shall form the subject matter of consultation by the governor with the High
-
Court and the Public Service Commission. While striking down the selection,
the Court held that it shall be open to the Governor to make appropriate
rule determining the qualifying marks and to the Public Service Commission
B to conduct another viva-voce examination in accordance with those Rules.
No Act of legislature made on the subject was in issue · warranting
observations made in para 23 of the judgment. Otherwise also while
dealing with Chandra Shekar's case(supra) Brother Majmudar, J. has rightly
concluded:
c "Sornnath Iyer, J., speaking for the Division Bench observed that:
'Article 234 excepts out of the operation of Art. 309, appointments
to judicial service and constitutes the Governor in a sense a select
legislative organ for enactment of rules for the purpose'. The afore-
•.
said observation will of course have to be read down in the light of
D the Constitution Bench decision of this Court in B.S. Yadav 's case
(supra)."
In M.l. Nadaf's case(supra) relying on K.N. Chandra Sekhar's tase the
High Court of Mysore held that the Rules framed by the Governor under
E Article 309 of the Constitution could not override the Rules made by him
under Article 234 of the Constitution. The p~titioner in that case had relied
upon the Rules framed under proviso to Article 309 of the Constituii.on dealing
with recruitment generally for the Mysore State Civil Services whereas
specific Rules pertaining to the judicial service had earlier been framed un~er
Article 234 of the Constitution. After referring to K.N. Chandra Sekhar's case
F the Court held:
"From a reading of that decision, it is clear that no rule relating to
the appointment of the persons mentioned in Article 234 of the
Constitution can be validly made by the Governor without consult-
G ing either the High Court or the Public Service Commission. As
seen earlier, the Mysore Munsiffs' (Recruitment) Rules, 1958
prescribed the age limits for the appointments of the Munsiffs. Rules
therein were made by the Governor under Article 234 of the
Constitution in consultation with the High Court and the Public
H Service Commission. Any variation of that rule can only be made
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 429
under Article 234 and that in accordance with the requirements of A
that Article. As seen ear1ier "Rules" do not comply with the
requirements of Article 234. That being so, we are unable to accept
the contention of Mr.Javali, the learned counsel for the petitioner
that the age qualification prescribed under the Munsiffs' (Recruit-
ment) Rules stood modified by rule 6(4)(b) of the "Rules". Our view B
that appointments to judicial services of the State other than that
of the District Judges should be made only in accordance with the
rules made by the Governor under Article 234 of the Constitution
after consultation with the State Public Service Commission and the
High Court exercising jurisdiction in.relation to such State and not C
under rules framed by him under Article 309 of the Constitution is
also supported by the decision of the Madras High Court in
N.Devasahayam v. State of Madras, AIR (1958) Mad 53 and that
of the Rajast~an High Court in Rajvi Amar Singh v. State of
Rajasthan, AIR (1956) Raj. 104."
D
It is true that if there is a conflict between the Rules framed under
Article 234 of the Constitution and the Rules made under Article 309, the
latter Rules, in so far as they relate to Subordinate Judiciary shall be
ineffective and not applicable. However, main Article 309 cannot be made
subject to the provisions of Article 234 except to the extent indicated in E
Chapter VI. In other words, the appropriate legislature would be competent
to make laws if authorised under Chapter XI read with Seventh Schedule
of the Constitution. In case of conflict between the Rules made under Article
234 and the laws made by the appropriate legislature, the Rules would give
way to the laws made by the sovereign legislature. Such law made, however,
F
may be declared invalid or inapplicable to the judicial service if it in any
way undermines the independence of judiciary or otherwise encroaches upon
the constitutional guarantees under aforesaid Chapter VI or is violative of
the Fundamental Rights. Giving any other interpretation would amount to
usurping the power of the sovereign legislature. Such an approach would be
nugatory to the concept of Parliamentary Democracy adopted by the people G
of India for their governance. There cannot be two opinions that the
Parliamentary Democracy is one of the basic features of the Constitution
· which nobody can alter, modify or substitute even in exercise of the
constitutional powers conferred upon the Parliament under Article 368 of the
Constitution. The High Court of Patna, therefore, fell in error in holding that H
430 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A the law made by the sovereign legislature in exercise of the powers
vesting in it under Article 309 or Part XI read with Seventh Schedule of
the Constitution was not applicable to the judicial service of the State of
Bihar.
From the scheme of the Constitution with particular reference to Part VI,
B
Chapter VI, Part XIV Chapter I, Part XI Chapter I and Seventh Schedule of
the Constitution what emerges is that:
(i) The constitutional-makers had given a special status and treatment to
the judicial service;
c
(ii) That the independence of judiciary is ensured which cannot be
interfered with either by an executive action or by an act of legislature;
(iii) That the conditions of service spelt out in Chapter VI of the
Constitution cannot be altered, modified or substituted either by rule making
D
power or by legislation made in exercise of the powers under: Article 309 of
the Constitution; ·
(iv) Rules made under Article 234 have primacy in the matter of
appointment/recruitment, discipline and control of the judicial service and
E even such rules cannot take away from persons belonging to the judicial
service any right of appeal which they may have under the law regulating the
conditions of their service or as authorising the High Court to deal with them
otherwise than in accordance with the conditions of their service prescribed
under such law;
F
(v) The provisions of Chapter VI of Part VI and the powers conferred 'I
upon the appropriate legislature and the Governor under Article 309 are
complementary and supplementary to each other subject to the conditions of
ensuring the independence of judiciary;
G (vi) That in case of conflict between the rules made under Chapter VI
and under Article 309, the rules specifically framed under Article 234 of the
Constitution would prevail and the rules made under Article 309, to that
extent, shall give in their way;
H (vii) That the Parliament or the State Legislature can legislate upon any
I
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 431
matter including the matters relating to the judicial service provided the A
legislation is permitted under Part XI, Chapter I read with Seventh Schedule
and is not in conflict with other provisions of the Constitution and rights
guaranteed in favour of the judicial service by the Constitution itself under
Part VI Chapter VI;
(viii) Even if any law made by the appropriate legislature is held to be B
made with plenary power of legislation and not in conflict with Part VI
Chapter VI, being subject to Judicial Review, it can be challenged if it violates
the Fundamental Rights or any other provision of the
Constitution;
c
,, ix) As in the case of Rules made under Article 234 of the Constitution,
- it is expected that if any rules are intended to be made by the executive under
Article 309 with respect to the judicial service, the High Court shall be
consulted and its views given due weight while making such rules. It is
needless to say that in the process of consultation, the concerned High Court
shall keep in mind the constitutional obligations of the State under Part III,
Part IV or any other provision of the Constitution.
x) The conclusions enumerated hereinabove are, however, not applicable
to the higher judiciary constituted and established under Part V Chapter IV and
Part VI Chapter V of the Constitution. E
In view of the position of law as enunciated hereinabove, the findings
of the High Court in the impugned judgment in so far as it holds that the
impugned Act is not applicable to the judicial service cannot be sustained and
is liable to be set aside. Admittedly, the impugned Act has not been
challenged on any other ground. It is not the case of the respondent that the
F
Act is violative of any of the Fundamental Rights or in violation of any
constitutional provision or it tampers with the independence of judiciary. The
impugned Act does not in any way usurp the power of the High Court to
make recommendations for appointment of District Judges and direct
promotions or appointment of persons other than District Judges to the G
judicial service. After enacting the law in accordance with the constitutional
provisions, the selection for appointment of the persons to the judicial service
has been left to the wisdom and at the discretion of the High Court. The High
Court has not in any .way been deprived of making the selection of the best
available candidates if they otherwise fulfil the eligibility criteria and come H
432 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A within the p~ameters prescribed by law. Despite the impugned Act, making
reservations, the power of the High Court in the matter of appointments has
not been curtailed as apprehended. Appointments on the basis of reservation
can be made of only such persons who are found eligible and recommended
by the High Court. The Governor or the executive cannot appoint any person
of their own from the reserved categories. Once reservations are made, the
B
High Court is absolutely within its powers to fix the category and
suitability to make selection for recommendation. The independence of
judiciary has not, in ahy way, been taken away by the exercise of legitimate
powers by the legislature. By exercise of its power the legislature does not
appear to have interfered with the overall control of the High Court over the
c subordinate judiciary. Even though the appropriate authority to make the
appointments is the Governor, yet the power of the High Court or the ,.··
4'-
independence of judiciary is not undermined because the power to
make the appointment conferred upon the Governor has to be exercised by
him in consultation with the High Court. This Court in M.M. Gupta & Ors.
D v. State ofl & K & Ors., AIR (1982) SC 1579, after referring to a catena
of authorities, concluded:
"We are of the opinion that healthy convention and proper norms
should be evolved in the matter of these appointments for
safeguarding the independence of the judiciary in conformity with
E
the requirements of the Constitution. We are of the opinion that
normally, as a matter of rule, recommendations made by High Court
for the appointment of a District Judge should be accepted by the
State Government and the Governor should act on the same. If in
any particular case, the State Government for good and weighty
F reasons find it difficult to accept the recommendations of the High
Court, ihe State Government should communicate its views to the
High Court and the State Government must have complete and
effective consultation with the High Court in the matter. There can
be no doubt that if the High Court is convinced that there are good
G reasons for the objections on the part of the State Government, the
High Court will undoubtedly reconsider the matter and the \
I
recommendations made by the High Court. Efficient and proper J
judicial administration being the main object of these appointments, \
there should be no difficulty in arriving at a consensus as both the
High Court and the State Government must necessarily approach the
H
~: ..
'•
STATE v, BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 433
question in a detached manner for achieving the true objective of A
getting proper District Judges for due administration of justice."
This Court in Indra Sawhney & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors., [ 1992]
Supp. (3) SCC 217 has held that reservation is a remedy for historical
discrimination and its continuing ill-effects. Poverty demands affirmative
action. Its eradication is a constitutional mandate. The purpose of Article
B
16(4) is to give adequate representation in the services of the State to that
class which has no representation. This Articles carves out a particular
class of people and not individuals from the weaker sections and the class
it carves out is the one which does not have adequate representation in the
services of the State. Pandian J., in his concurring but separate judgment had C
observed:
"Though 'equal protection' clause prohibits the State from making
unreasonable discrimination in providing preferences anc;l facilities
for any section of its people, nonetheless it requires the State to
D
afford substantially equal opportunities to those, placed unequally.
/
The basic policy of reservation is to off-set the inequality and
remove the manifest imbalance, the victims of which for bygone
generations lag far behind and demand equality by special prefer-
ences and their strategies. Therefore, a comprehensive methodologi- E
cal approach encompassing jurisprudential, comparative, historical
and anthrolJOlogical conditions is necessary. Such considerations
raise controversial issues transcending the routine legal exercise
because certain social groups who are inherently unequal and who
have fallen victims of discrimination require compensatory treat-
F
ment. Needless to emphasise that equality in fact or substantive
equality involves the necessity of beneficial treatment in order to
attain the result which establishes an equilibrium between two
sections placed unequally."
The majority judgment further held that power of "State" to make any G
provision under Article 16(4) does not necessarily mean that such provision
be made only by Parliament or any State Legislature. Government can also
i~troduce reservation by executive orders as appears to have been practi&ed
in Bihar also so far as subordinate judicial service is concerned. As the
impugned Act making reservation in the services including the judicial H
434 SUPREME COURT REPORTS '[2000] 2 S.C.R.
A service has not been challenged on the grounds of being violative of
Fundamental Rights or in contravention of any constitutional provision there
is no necessity of testing its constitutional validity on the aforesaid touchstones.
In view of this position of law it has to be now ascertained as to whether
the impugned Act had really made any provision of reservation in the judicial
service as well or not. The High Court on perusal of its various provisions
B has held that the Act did not relate to the judicial service and the insistence
of the Government of Bihar to issue notifications in accordance with the said
Act by making provision for reservation was uncalled for. While interpreting
the words "office or department" occurring in the definition of term
"establishment" under Section 2(c) of the Act, the Court held that the
c aforesaid words referred to the office or department of the Court and not the
Court itself. It further held that reservation of posts in the judicial service de
hors of the Reservation Act was not permissible. Interpreting Section 4, the
High Court observed:
"The correct construction of Section 4, in the context, read with
D Section 2(c) and 2(n), would be something like this -
All appointments to service and posts in any office or department
(i.e. establishment) of the judiciary by direct recruitment shall
be regulated in the following manner."
E The findings of the High Court cannot be upheld in view of the clear
provisions made in Bihar Act No.3 of 1992. The Preamble of the Act states
that it has been enacted to provide for adequate representation of Scheduled
Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes in posts and services
under the State. Section 2(a) defines "Appointing authority" in relation to a
F Service or post in an establishment to mean the authority empowered to make
appointment to such services or posts; Section 2(c) defines "Establishment"
as "any office or department of the State concerned with the appointments
to public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the State and
includes (i) local or statutory authority constituted under any State Act for
the time being in force, or (ii) a co-operative institution registered under the
G Bihar Co-operative Societies Act, 1935 (Act 6 of 1935) in which share is held
by the State Government or which receives aid from the State Government
in terms of loan, grant, subsidy, etc. and (iii) Universities and Colleges
affiliated to the Universities, Primary, Secondary and High Schools and also
other educational institutions which are .owned or aided by the State
H Gqvernments and (iv) an establishment in public sector"; Section 2(f) defines
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 435
· "Reservation" to mean, reservation of vacancies in posts and services for A
Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes; Section
2(n) defines "State" to include the Government, the Legislature and the
Judiciary of the State of Bihar and all local or other authorities within the
State or under the control of the State Government. Section 3 refers to the
"Services" to which the Act has not been made applicable. Section 4
B
mandates that all appointments to the Services and Posts in an establishment
which are to be filled by direct recruitment shall be regulated in the manner
prescribed therein. 50% of the available vacancies are to be filled up from
open merit category and 50% from reserved category. The vacancies from
different categories of reserved candidates from amongst the 50% the
reserved categories shall, subject to other provisions of the Act, be as follows: c
(a) Scheduled Castes 14%
(b) Scheduled Tribes 10%
(c) Extremely Backward Class 12% D
(d) Backward Class 8%
(e) Economically Backward Woman 3%
(f) Economically Backward 3%
E
Total 50%
Section 5 of the Act provides:
F
"Review of Reservation Policy.- (1) It shall be the duty of the State
Government to strive to achieve the representation of the Scheduled
Castes/Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes in the various
services of posts of all the establishments of the State as defined in
clauses (c;) and (d) of Section 2 in the proportion fixed for various G
reserved categories under Section 4.
(2) The State Government shall review its reservation policy after
every ten years:
Provided that every order made under sub-section (2) shall be laid as H
436 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A soon as may be after it is made, before the State Legislature while it
is in session for a total period of fourteen days which may be
comprised in one or in two successive sessions."
The aforesaid Act was amended by Act No.XI of 1993 by which
B amongst others Sub- section (2) of Section 4 was substituted prescribing the
extent of percentage of reservations. Similarly clause (c) of sub-section (6) of
Section 4 was substituted prescribing the manner of filling the vacancies in
c~se of non-availability of suitable candidates in the reserved categorieey.
Clause (e) of sub-section (6) of Section 4 was substituted providing:
c "(e) If required number of candidates of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled
Tribes and Extremely Backward Classes and Backward Classes and
Women of Backward Classes are not available for filling up the
reserved vacancies, fresh advertisement may be made only for the
candidates belonging to the members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled
D Tribes and Extremely Backward and Bacward Classes and Women of
Backward Classes, as the case may be, to fill the backlog vacancies
only."
A combined reading of the various provisions of the Act leave no doubt that
E it is also applicable to the establishment of judicial service and "not only to
the office or department of the Court, excluding the Court itself', as has been
held in the impugned judgment. No other interpretation is possible in view of
the definitions of "establishment" and "State" in Sections 2(c) and 2(n) of the
Act. It was not correct for the High Court to say that the aforesaid language
of the statute was capable of more than one interpretation and for that such
F
interpretation which is not absurd or inconsistent should be followed. The
Court is required to interpret statute as far as possible agreeable to justice and
reason. While interpreting a statute the courts have to keep in mind the
underlying policy of the statute itself and the object sought to be achieved by
it. This Court in Nasiruddin v. State Transport Appellate Tribunal, AIR ( 1976)
G
SC 331 held:
"If the precise words used are plain and unambiguous, they are bound
to be construed in their ordinary sense. The mere fact that the results
of a statute may be unjust does not entitle a court to refuse to give
H it effect. If there are two different interpretations of the words in an
STATE v. BAL MUKUND SAH [SETHI, J.] 437
---· Act, the Court will adopt that which is just, reasonable and sensible
rather than that which is none of those things. If the inconvenience
A
is an absurd inconvenience, by reading an enactment in its ordinary
sense, whereas if it is read in a manner in which it is capable, though
not in an ordinary sense there would not be an inconvenience at all;
there would be reason why one should not read it according to its B
ordinary grammatical meaning. Where the word~ are plain the court
would not make any alteration."
It is not correct' as held by the High Court in the impugned judgment that
interpreting the statute in favour of the appellant State, as desired, "would
amount to relegating the judicial service at par with not only the secretarial
c
staff or the administrative, executive or council of ministers and legislature but
also their own staff.. That would. be contrary to law laid down by the Apex
Court in All India Judges Case (supra)". It appears that to arrive at such a
conclusion the High Court was also persuaded and impressed on account of
the statement before it that the provisions of the Reservation Act had been D
declared to be ultra vires, as regards the Bihar Subordinate Judicial Service
i.e., as regards recruitment of judicial officers other than that of the District
Judges in the case of Deepak Kumar Singh & Others. Interpretation of Section
4 as put in by the High Court, if accepted, would not only frustrate the purpose
and object of the Bihar Act No.3 of 1992 but also be contrary to the mandate. E
of the Constitution as enshrined in its Part III and further declared in Part IV,
Article 56 and Article 335 of the Constitution.
The High Court is thus held to have fell in error of law in declaring the
Act as ultra vires in so far as its applicability to the judicial service is F .
concerned, and also in the matter of interpretation of its various provisions.
The appeals are accordingly allowed by setting aside the judgments impugned
therein with a direction to the respondents to fill up the vacancies in
accordance with the Rules applicable and the provisions of the impugned Act
without disturbing the appointments made till date on the basis of this Court's G
order. The seniority of the members of the judicial service shall be determined
in accordance with the Service Rules applicable and the provisions of the Act
by adjusting the candidates selected on reservation to fill in the reserved slots
keeping in view the quota and rota rule as specifically pointed out by this
Court in its order dated l 6.11.1995. No costs.
H
438 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] 2 S.C.R.
A Leave granted.
The Civil Appeals stand dismissed as per the majority view subject to
the modifications and directions contained in the main judgment.
There will be no order as to costs.
B
S.M. Appeals dismissed.
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