text stringlengths 5 5.67k |
|---|
They also assert that just like the Defence department uses some maps prepared by the Survey of India, the Forest Department, G.S.I., P.W.D. etc., also use the maps. Ratio |
So we are not inclined to hold that the nature of the survey and work carried 1053 on by the Survey of India department is largely defence oriented. Ratio |
Some reports are sought to be relied on in this connection. Ratio |
It is true that some attempts have been made after attainment of Independence to attract officers from the army engineering corps into Survey of India department. Ratio |
The impugned rules will have to be examined in the light of the circumstances that are now prevailing ever since Independence and not on the so called historical background which has, in any case, become archaic. Ratio |
In regard to the special training given to the army personnel which is said to justify the classification, it appears to us that this claim is not tenable. Ratio |
If the army personnel are given training in field engineering for 9 months and for 3 years in the Military Engineering College, Kirki, the qualifications required for direct recruitment of civilians are no less valuable. Ratio |
Largely, only engineering graduates are recruited directly. Ratio |
They have equal engineering experiences. Ratio |
Further, it does not appear that the army officers had been given any survey training when they were in the army services. Ratio |
It is not, therefore, possible to say that the recruits from the army are better qualified than the civilian direct recruits. Ratio |
The promotees from Class II have, behind them a very long experience of not less than one decade in the work undertaken by the Survey of India department. Ratio |
With this long experience of survey work, particularly belonging to this department behind them, we do not see any justification for their being discriminated against in favour of army officers. Ratio |
We are not, therefore, prepared to accept that the army personnel in the Survey of India department have had any longer or better training required for Survey of India than either the direct recruits or promotees from Class II 1054 service to Class I service. Ratio |
The latter two categories appear to be as qualified and as experienced as the army officers to carry out the work of Survey of India. Ratio |
The only conclusion that is possible from the above discussion is that this classification made under the impugned rules between the army personnel and the civilian personnel has no reasonable connection with the object that is sought to be served. Ratio |
We demur. Ratio |
Why ? The 1950 Rules, in our view, have two prominent features which are basic. Ratio |
The first one which we have already emphasised is that the military nominees do not shed their army service and merge into a new Service but undergo a partial absorption and preserve a substantial separateness. Ratio |
The second feature, which is perhaps more hurtful to the civilian sector, turns on Rule 5 which provides for seniority. Ratio |
The rule runs thus: 5. Ratio |
Seniority. (1) On first appointment an officer will be in the grade of Deputy Superintending Surveyor (Formerly Assistant Superintendent) in Class I Service of the Survey of India. Ratio |
(2) The seniority of military officers inter se will remain the same as in the Army. Ratio |
(3) The seniority of military officers vis a vis directly recruited civilian officers will be determined by the year of allotment which will depend: (i) in the case of military officers, on the date of first commission including ante date, if any; and (ii) in the case of directly recruited civilian officers, on the dat... |
(4) Civilian officers directly recruited on the results of any one examination will be junior to those recruited on the results of earlier examinations and senior to those recruited on the results of later examinations, the seniority inter se of those recruited in any one year being determined according to the order of... |
(5) Among those allotted to the same year, military officers will rank senior to directly recruited civilian officers. Ratio |
1055 Rule 5A deals with promotion officiating and substantive. Ratio |
A qualifying two year probation and a further three years ' service are a sine qua non for substantive promotion. Ratio |
But officiating promotions are open to all the officers, preference being given to those who have done more years of actual survey work, regardless of seniority. Ratio |
Even officiating posting needs the qualifying service of two years and three years, earlier referred to. Ratio |
In this regard, the Class II officers who are directly promoted as S.S. have a definite advantage over the military men. Ratio |
But when it comes to confirmation in substantive promotion posts, the military personnel opting into the Survey of India get the advantage of Rule 5 which bestows on them the added benefit of the period of service from the date of first commission in the Army which may be anything between three to six years as against ... |
The 1960 Rules also require to be examined before we proceed to a discussion. Ratio |
Rule 3 speaks of the sources of recruitment or appointment Direct recruitment of qualified candidates, promotion or transfer from another service, appointment from the Corps of Engineer Officers of the Ministry of Defence and, rarely, admission of other qualified persons these are the methods of entry into the service.... |
A direct recruit must be a graduate with Mathematics or the holder of an Engineering Degree (there are other alternatives which are of minor significance). Ratio |
Rule 20A, which was an amendment made in 1965, insists that every person in the Service, appointed after the 1965 amendment, "shall be liable to serve in any defence service or post connected with the defence of India, for a period of not less than four years", including the training period. STA |
This, incidentally, emphasises the military adaptability expected of the Service. Ratio |
Rule 22 is important: 22. Ratio |
Seniority (a) On the first appointment an officer will be in the grade of Deputy Superintending Surveyor (formerly Assistant Superintendent) in class I Service of the Survey of India. STA |
(b) The seniority of military officers inter se will remain the same as in the Army. STA |
(c) The seniority of military officers vis a vis directly recruited civilian officers will be determined by the year of allotment which will depend : (i) in the case of military officers, on the date of first commission including ante dated if any; and 1056 (ii) in the case of directly recruited civilian officers, on t... |
(d) The relative seniority of all direct recruits shall be determined by the order of merit in which they are selected for such appointment on the recommendations of the Union Public Service Commission, persons appointed as a result of an earlier selection being senior to those appointed as a result of a subsequent sel... |
Another rule which must be mentioned for a complete understanding is to the effect that Class II officers, when promoted to Class I, are directly appointed as S.S. and, therefore, can skip the lower position of D.S.S. STA |
In 1970, the promotional scheme was slightly modified, but the thrust of the argument that military engineers enjoyed an advantage remained. Ratio |
The attack made by the civilian wing, consisting of two groups, namely, direct recruits and Class II promotees, is against three key rules of the 1950 Scheme, viz., Rules 5, 5A and 11 and, of course, their corresponding 1970 provisions based on articles 14 and 16 and the High Court has substantially acceded on the basi... |
The Court has struck down Rules 22B, 22E of the 1960 Rules and Rules 5(2), 5(3), 5(5), 7 and 11 of the 1950 rules. Ratio |
However, the Court has circumspectly declined to open the Pandora 's box and restricted the refixation of seniority and review of promotions "only from the date of the filing of the writ petition viz. 5 3 1974, because if we do it from a back date, it would be unsettling the promotions that had already been given befor... |
" This comprehensive narration is sufficient to inaugurate a discussion on the merits of the contentions after a formulation of the critical issues. Ratio |
The points urged by the learned Attorney General are two fold. Ratio |
Neither article 14 nor article 16 is violated because the Army recruits and the civilian entrants do not march into a common pool within the service of the Survey of India. ARG |
There are two sources or streams 1057 which flow into the Service but remain immiscible layers. ARG |
Since the Constitutional mandate of equal treatment applies only to equals, it cannot apply to the given situation. ARG |
Secondly, assuming there is a united cadre, even then article 16 cannot invalidate the weightage for seniority assigned to the military recruits, since sensible supportive discremen, having a rational relation to the object of the Service exists and that is sufficient panacea to cure the infirmity of differential treat... |
He further pressed that it was perfectly permissible, having regard to the different sources, to prescribe a weightage at the time of the entry into the Service. ARG |
And, in the present case, the weightage is only at the time of entry into the Service. Ratio |
Thereafter, they are treated as equal for all purposes of promotion and what manifest advantage is derived by the military men in their career is a consequence of the initial addition of the commissioned service for the purposes of seniority. Ratio |
These positions have been contested by Sri Govindan Nair, for the respondents, who has further argued that it is not proper for this Court to upset a finding of fact by the High Court unless there be something palpably erroneous on the face of the judgment. ARG |
This is true and we should not slightly interfere save where there is grave error. Ratio |
Before we discuss these points, we must clear the ground regarding the necessity of the military presence in the survey Service. Ratio |
We have already quoted from the affidavit on behalf of the Union of India, which gives condensed reasons for induction of army engineers into the Survey of India. Ratio |
That terse statement crystallizes all that we have stated at some length earlier in this judgment. Ratio |
An S.O.S. and the Survey of India must go into action maybe in the war torn area, maybe for post truce measurements. Ratio |
More military survey literature was placed in our hands by the learned Attorney General, making up for earlier defaults, to drive home the point that multifarious though the Survey 's operations are, it does discharge duties secret, sensitive and strategic for Defence requirements which necessitate the maintenance of a... |
This backdrop serves to highlight the issues on which we may turn the focus. Ratio |
We may now enter the area of encounter. Ratio |
What was a thoroughbred Military Engineering Corps suffered a metamorphosis by 1950 when a new set of rules of recruitment, composition and conditions of service, consistent with the new vision, rainbow of responsibilities and switch over to civilian departmentalisation, was brought about. Ratio |
1058 A critical dissection of the present set up yields the result: While army engineers are definitely needed and are not expendable, the civilian accent on developmental work and the like justifies opening up the Service to recruits and promotees, non military in source. Ratio |
Guided by this flexible realism and acting under the proviso to article 309 of the Constitution, the President of India has made Rules in 1950 to regulate the recruitment and conditions of service of the army personnel coming into the Survey of India. Ratio |
The anatomy of the 1950 Rules is important. Ratio |
It reserves 50% for the military Engineers by way of entitlement quota out of the total number to be recruited over a year as D.S.S. The other 50% was to have been divided equally between civilian recruits from the open market and the Class II officers. Ratio |
But, by an amendment of 1965, a modification was made to the effect that the promotees from Class II would enter the Class I Service directly as S.S. and not as D.S.S. Ratio |
Thus, the total number of vacancies each year at the D.S.S. level has to be filled by recruitment in the proportion of 50 and 25. Ratio |
To illustrate for clarity, if there are 75 DSS vacancies in a given year, 50 of them are reserved for military nominees and the remaining 25 are filled up by direct recruitment from the civilians. Ratio |
The expression 'recruitment ' definitely means enlisting anew into a Service and so it may be taken that the army engineering quota is 50 out of the 75 and the remaining 25 belong to the civilian recruits. Ratio |
By way of contrast, the members of the Class II Service have a quota of 25% but that proportion is to be worked out, in terms of the extant rule, not based on the number of vacancies at the S.S. level but by a calculation of the total number of posts at the S.S. and higher levels in the Service. Ratio |
The recruitment is only to the posts of Superintending Surveyors although the number to be so promoted is based upon totalling up the various posts at and above the S.S. level. Ratio |
The total number of vacancies at the DSS level for each year shall be divided in the ratio of 2: 1 (50% for the Army Corps and 25% for direct recruits). Ratio |
The 50% reserved for the army corps shall be available to be filled by those candidates. Ratio |
The 25% seats to be filled by direct recruits shall be filled only by such recruits. Ratio |
Even if enough direct recruits are not available they will not be filled by the army nominees but shall be kept vacant to be carried forward and filled in later years by such direct recruits. Ratio |
A reasonable period for the carry 1059 forward scheme will be 3 years, not more. Ratio |
Likewise, military vacancies at the DSS level each year shall be filled only by such nominees. Ratio |
If enough such hands are not available, a similar procedure of carry forward will govern. Ratio |
For the SS posts 25% belongs to promotees from Class II officers. Ratio |
The total number will be worked out by adding all the posts of SS, Deputy Directors and Directors and Surveyor General and allotting one fourth of it as the quota for Class II promotees for appointment as SS. Ratio |
Such is the reasonable interpretation of the rule. Ratio |
Now we come to the bitter bone of contention between the parties. Ratio |
Why should the 50% of military recruits be given a special weightage ? Should not all entrants into the DSS be treated alike without being afforded a handicap in the race? We see no difficulty in upholding this weightage, once we accept the reality that the military portion of the Survey is a compelling factor for nati... |
We hold, on a study of the materials already adverted to, that sans they army engineers the Survey of India will become a functional failure in discharging its paramount duties in times of war and in spells of peace, defence spreads beyond hot war or cold war and sustains the sense of security by a state of ever readin... |
There is enough literature to establish that the work done by the army wing of the Survey is far too important to be played with and such work is best done by that wing. Ratio |
The military recruits, as has been already observed, are commissioned officers with 3 to 6 years of service. Ratio |
They have a certain salary scale and period of service when they are baptised into the Survey of India. Ratio |
Giving due weight to these factors, Rule 5 lays down the criteria for seniority as between the military sector of recruits and the civilian counter parts. Ratio |
What needs to be appreciated is that for the very efficiency of the Survey of India, a substantial army element is structurally essential. Ratio |
Army engineers are invited into this Service not because this department historically belonged to the Defence Forces but because it cannot minister to one of the major objectives of its creation if it does not have engineers with military training, aptitude, courage, discipline and dare devilry in hours of crisis. Rati... |
The necessity of the Survey, not opportunity to the armymen, has determined the need to attract and, therefore, to allot a quota in the upper echelons, viz., Class I, for military engineers. Ratio |
This, in turn, has desiderated the offer of reasonable terms and conditions for army men to join the Survey of India. Ratio |
The military engineers belong to the Corps of Engineer Officers. Ratio |
They are commissioned officers with service of 3 to 6 years before coming into the Survey which needs, not raw engineers, but men 1060 with some experience. Ratio |
They have prospects and scales of pay in the Defence Department. Ratio |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.