K. RAJENDRAN & ORS. ETC. ETC. versus STATE OF TAMIL NADU & ORS.

Citation: [1982] 3 S.C.R. 628 · Decided: 15-04-1982 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S. MURTAZA FAZAL ALI · Disposal: Dismissed

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Judgment (excerpt)

A
628
B
c
K. RAJENDRAN & ORS. ETC. ETC.
v.
STATE OF TAMIL NADO & ORS.
April 15, 1982·
[S. MURTAZA FAZAL ALI, E.S. VENICATARAMIAH AND
A. VARADARAJAN, JJ.)
•
Constitution of India 1950, Article1 14. 19 (I) (g), 32 and 311 (2) & Tamil ~
Nadu Abolition of posts of part-time Village Officers Act 1981, Ss,2 (•), 3 and 5.
State enactment-Abolition of civil po1ts-Posts of'part-time' village offictr1
abollshtd-lntroduction of whole-time village administrative o.ffictr1-Whethtr valid
. D
and legal.
E
G
H
Civil
Servic~Civil post-Abolition ~f Polt-Whether 'govtrnmen.t has a
right-Abolition of post and abolttion of cadrt-Di.stinction-Rights of the incum·
bent of the post.
In the State of Tamil Nadu the administration was carried on at the village
level by 3. chain bf officers in regular gradation one above the Other since the
comlnencement Or the Christian era. This system .known as the barabaluti system
consisted of twelve functionaries : (i) headman, (2) kamam or acc®ntant, (3)
shroff or notazar; ( 4) nirganti, (5) toty or taliary, (6) potter, (7) smith, (8) ieweller ..
(9) carpenter, (!O) barber, (II) washerman and (12) astrologer. The first five
rendere.d service to the Government. By the end of the ninCteenth century, two
Acts were enacted for the purpose of regulating the work of these village
offices.
The Madras Proprietary States' Village Service Act, 1894 (Madr's Act
No.11of1894) dealt.with three classes of vihage officers viz. village accountants,
village headman and yiJlage watchman. It provided for their appointment,
remuneration and summary punishment of misconduct or neglect of duty. The
Madras Hereditary Village Offices· Act 1895 (Madras Act No. Ill of 1895)
regulated the succession to certain other hereditary village offices and provided
for the appointment of persons to bold such offices and the control or the holders
thereof. Under both these statutes, the village offices devolved on a single heir
according to the general custom and rule of primogeniture governing succession
to i(l)partible zamidaris. Io cases to which the aforesaid two 'Statutes. were
inapplicable provision was made by the Standing Orders promulgated by the
Board of Reveoile, which were known as the Board's Standing Orders for
appointing village offi:ers on a hereditary basis.
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•
•
k. RAIENDRAN V. TAMIL NAbU (Venkataralniah, J.)
629
The distinctive features of the service conditions of the village officers
appointed under the a:foresaid two Acts or the Board's Standing Orders were
that they were part~time employees of th~ Government, tbey fiCre appointed
direct1y by the Revenue Officer, the records maintained by them could be
retained in their frouses, no fixed hours of duty were prescribed, they were not
constituted into any distinct service, could not be transferred outside their
district, and that they were paid honorarium for the services that they dis~
charged. The Fundamental Rules applicable to all other State Government
employees, the Pension Rules, and the Leave Rules were not applicable. to these·
village officers.
This Court in Gazula Daaaratha Rama Rao v. The State of Andhra Pradesh
& Ors. [1961] 2 SCR 931 having held that section 6 (1) of the Madras Act No. 3
of 1895 was void as it contravened Article 16 (2) of the Constitution, instructions
.,.were issued by the Board of Revenue on March 12, 1962 that -in respect of
future vacancies in village offices governed by the Madras Act No. 2 of 1894, and
the Madras Act No., 3 of 1895, the
appointments should be made on a
temporay basis, and the
State
Legislature
enacted the Madras
Pro-
prietary
Estates'
Village
Service
and
the
Madras 'Hereditary Village
Offices '(Repeal) Art, 1968
repealing the 1894 and
1895
Acts. Pur-
suant to section 3 of this Act, the State Government promulgated that Tamil
Nadu Village Officers Service Rules, 1970 which provided for tbe constitution of
the Tamil Nadu Village Officers Service, consisting of (i) Village ileadman,
additional village headman, (ii) village kamam, additional village karnam, and
(iii) taJayari and nirganti and the method of recrUitment to the said posts.
In the year 1973, the Administrative Reforms Commission set up by the
State Government recommended that the existing part-time village officers should
_l--
be replaced by regular whole-time transferable public servants who should form
part of the Revenue hierarchy. The State Government accepted this reco

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