H.V. PARDASANI, ETC. versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Citation: [1985] 3 S.C.R. 286 · Decided: 12-03-1985 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: P.N. BHAGWATI · Disposal: Dismissed

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Judgment (excerpt)

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B 
c 
286 
H.V. PARDASANI, ETC. 
v; 
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 
March 12, 1985 
[P.N. BHAGWATI, AMARBNDJU. NAtH SBN & RANGANATH MISIA JJ. 
Central Secretariat Serv .ce Rules -
Rules 12 and 13 (5)-Ctntral 
Secretariat Service (Promotion z to Grade I and Selection Grade) Regulations 
1964, Regulation 5(2}(c). 
Secretariat Service-Section Officers--Promo!ion to Under Secretary-
Drawing of Select List of Section Officers-fixation of seniority between pro-
motees and direct recruits -
How determined -
Service scheme -
Whether 
D 
ultra -Vires Articles 14 and 16. 
Constitution of India 1950, Artie/es 14 & 16 
Central Secretariat Service Scheme -
whether ultra vires. 
E 
The Central Secretariat service is composed of four grades . (i) Selection 
F 
G 
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Grade (Deputy Secretary) ; (ii) Grade I (Under Secretary) ; (iii) Section 
Officers' grade ; and (iv) Assistants' grade. 
Ruic 12(2) of the Central 
Secretariat Service Rules provides that promotions to the grade of Under Secre-
tary be made from amongst members belonging to the grade of Section Officers 
and Grade 'A' Officers of the Central Secretariat Stenographers' Service. Under 
role 12(4) the· Central Government framed the Central Secretariat Scrvict 
(Promotion to Grade I 
~nd Selection Grade) Regulations, 1964. 
Regulation 
S (2) (c) provided that the names of officers appointed to Section Officers' 
Grade before the appointed day and included in the Select List of Section 
Officers at the initial Constitution ·shall be arranged in the order of their 
seniority as determined before that day, 
Additions to this List shall be made 
by including officers appointed to the Section Officers' Grade after the appoin-
ted day through the select List for the Grade, officers appointed on the basis 
of an earlier select list being placed above those 
officers appointed· 
on the basis of a later select list. 
This Select List was contemplated to cover 
the entire Secretariat and was, therefore, 
required to reflect all the select lists 
of the cadre of Section Officers. 
In this single list of eligible Section Officers 
the names of the directly recruited Section Officers op l~e basis of the combine\\ 
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• 
'1 
it. v. P~ASA!'J r. t!NifoL 
co01petitive. examinations. and arranged in the order or merit in: such _exwnina·.-· 
A,, 
tionS had to. be. intCfpO'tated aCcordini to the quoti_or_ vacancies· reseryed. for, 
d~- recfuits at th~ time_-Of the_ir_ ~ec_ru~tment._: 
~ 
, ,. , 
.. : 
- In. the writ petitio~s to' this Court, the -~~i,tioners. who. beloii~ed.'... to; the:. 
cadre of Sections Officers in· the Central, Secretariat·, Service . challelii:ed the~ 
combined seniority list. of all the···Section. OfficCrs belonging_, to, the Service: 
and sought. a direction that_ the.select list in Grade I of the Service_ be.recast;·, 
tha.t some· of- the direct· ·recruits - includCd in the eligibility·. list of Section_' 
Officers should be omitted, alld that a direction- be issued to. apPoint promo· 
tees to Grade I with effect from the_ date on which junior directly recruited 
Section Officers have been appointed to GradC I. · ThC "vires ·or· the' -note" below 
Rulo 12," Rule" ll(S)>and' Regulation "'3(3) of the FoUrtb Schedule were also' 
assailed as being ultra-Vires Ariicles 14 ,. _and _ 16 .. ·It' Wits fllithef 'Coiitended; 
that -the seniority bCtween · · the · direct_· reCruits and proriioteeS: _iri :the· irade· Or· 
Section Officers has to be fixed on the baSis of leD.gtb oi 1 ~tvicC -ID ·the·:' glade) 
and not by the process envisaged under- the Rules and Regulations . 
. , 1Jie - ~poncknts '- Contested· .. :: the·. petitions alleging that the · ~;~~isionr. 
for fixing seniority has been made by the statutory Rules and ·that the combinedt 
seniority list as also the eligibility list were in . acCordancC.; with ~the ~ statutory\. 
scheme. · 
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·-... 
h. 
-:::· 
_ Dis~issing ~he Writ Petitio~s! 
,-l _,,-
.• ·_, ,,. 't. 
HELD : l. 
In the absence of any special 
prov1s1ons 
regul:iting: 
determination of seniority, length of continuous service in any particular grade 
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) 
D !I 
would be the basis· for detefmining serii0rity 1 iri that· gr.ide. 1 'If'ci ·rote prescri~ 
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bes a method of fixation of i"nter se seniority, the normal practice would 
·! 
not apply and the rule shall prevail} "[29JH i 292A] ' i" ' ,",:" l" • "I , ;1 " l 
2. 
The scheme does not'appCat I to. be arbitrary;r," The"R;ues and the 
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Regulations intended to give effect to the scheme arc not ul

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