A.V. S. NARASIMHA RAO AND OTHERS versus THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH AND ANOTHER

Citation: [1970] 1 S.C.R. 115 · Decided: 28-03-1969 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: M. HIDAYATULLAH · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed
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Judgment (excerpt)

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A. v. S. NARASIMHA RAO AND OTHERS 
v. 
THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH AND ANOTHER 
March 28, 1969 
[M. HlDAYATULLAH, C.J., 
J. c. SHAH, v. RAMASWAMI, 
G. K. MITTER AND A. N. GROVER, JJ:.J 
Constitution of India, Art. 16(3 )-Requirement as to residence in a 
part of a State-If valid. 
Public Employment (Requirement. as to Residence) Act, 1957, s. 3-
App/icatio11 to Telengana Area-Validity. 
Andhra Pradesh Public Employment (Requirement as to Residence) 
Rule, 1959, r. 3-Validity. 
The Parliament enacted the Public Employment (Requirement as to 
Residence) Act, 1957 in pursuance of cl. (3) of Art. 16 of the Constitu-
tion of India making special provisio!l for requirement as to residence in 
l'ilblic employment. Section 3 of the Act gave the power to make rules 
m respect of certain classes of employment in certain areas, and accord-
ingly the Andhra Pradesh Public Employment (Requirement as to Resi-
dence) Rules were made prescribing the requirement, 
as to 
residence 
prior to appointment to certain posts, within the Telengana area of the 
State. The petitioners who were non-domicile persons appointed to the 
posts reserved for the domiciles of Telengana under the rules, were by an 
order relieved from their posts and employed in the other region of the 
State. The petitioners, filed a petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution 
challenging the Act, the Rules and the order as ultra vires .the Constitn-
tion. Quashing the order, this Court, 
HELD : Section 3 of the Public Employment (Requirement as to Re-
sidence) Act, 1957 in so far as it related to Telengana and Rule 3 of the 
Rules under it were ultra vires the Constitution. [122 Al 
Qause (3) of Art. 16 of the Constitution enables Parliament t<> make 
a law in a special case prescribing any requirement as to residence within 
a State or Union Territory prior to appointment, in the State or Union· 
Territory. The provision speaks of a whole State as the venue tf.or resi-
dential qualification and it is impossible to think that the Constitue;it 
Assembly was thinking of residence in Districts, Talukas, cities, towns or 
villages. The fact that the clause is an exception and citme as an amend-
ment must dictate that a narrow construction upon the exception should 
be placed as indeed the debates in the Constituent Assembly also seem to 
indicate. The words 'any law' and 'any requirement' cannot 
be 
given 
wide and liberal construction. These words are controlled by the. words. 
'residence within the State or Union Territory' which words mean what 
they say neither more or less. [121 D-G] 
116 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
(1970] l S.C.R. 
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition No. 65 oi 1969. 
A 
Petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution of Lndia for enforce-
ment of fundamental rig)lts. 
S. V. Gupte, P. A. Choudhury and K. Rajendra Chaudhuri, 
for the petitioners. 
M. C. Setalvad, 
P. Ramachandro Rao, Advocate-General, 
8 
Andhra Pradesh, A. Raghublr and }4, V. Rangam, for respon-
dent No. 1. 
M. C. Setalvad alld R. N. Sachthey, for respondent No. 2. 
R. V. Pillai, H. S. Gurura/ Rao and Subodh Markandeya, for 
reepondents Nos. 3 to 4S. 
C 
Sardar Ali Khan, P. N. Duda and J. B. Dadachanji, for res-
pondent No. 46. 
P.A. Choudhury, K. Rajendra Chaudhuri and C. S. Sreenivasa 
Rao, for the intcrveners. 
D 
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The Judgment of the coun was delivered by 
Hidayatullah, C.J. The petitioners are persons employed in 
the ministerial services of the Andhra Pradesh Government. All 
of them were working in various offices located in the cities of 
Hyderabad and Secunderabad. On January 19, 1969, leaden. of 
'all political parties in the Legislature of the Andhra Pradesh State 
appeared to have met and reached the decision thatto ·implement 
what arc called 'Telengana Safeguards', the following measures 
should be taken : 
M All non-domicile persons, who have been appoint-
ed either directly, by promotion or by transfer to posts 
reserved under the Andhra Pradesh Public Employment 
(Requirement as to Residence) Rules, 1959 for domi-
ciles of Telengana region will be immediately relieved 
from service. The posts so rendered vacant will be filled 
by qualified candidates possessing domicile qualifica-
tions and in cases where such candidates are not avail-
able the posts shall be left unfilled till qualified domicile 
candidates become availabl~ Action on the above lines 
will be taken immediately. 
All non-domicile employees so relieved shall be pro-
vided employment
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