LexYASHWANT SINGH KOTHARI ETC. ETC. versus STATE BANK OF INDORE AND ORS.
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this caseJudgment (excerpt)
A
YASHWANT SINGH KOTHARI ETC. ETC.
v.
STATE BANK OF INDORE AND ORS.
JANUARY 14, 1993
B
[AM. AHMADI AND M.M. PUNCHHI, JJ.)
State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Ac~ 1959/State Bank of Indore
(Officers) Service Regulations, 1979:
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c
Sections 11( 1) and 63/Regu/ation 19-Transfer of services of employees
of existing banks--Age of retirement-Fixing retirement of officers after com-
pletion of 30 years service-Whether arbitrary-Whether an exercise of exces-
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sive delegatiotr-Differentiation between nationalised banks and subsidiary
banks--Whether discriminatory-Whether regulation applicable to existing
employees.
D
Constitution of India, 1950:
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Altic/es 14 and 16--Age of retireme111-Differentiation between officers
of subsidiary banks and nationalised banks-Whether discriminatory-
Regulatio11 19 of State Bank of Indore Officers Service Regulations, 1979
E providing for retirement on completion of 30 years service-Whether valid.
Words and Phrasej'-"Tenure"-Meaning of.
The appellants, employees of the first respondent-Bank, who were
initially in the employment of a Limited Bank, which ceased to exist with
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effect from 1.1.1960 and became a subsidiary bank in the wake of State
Bank 9f India (Subsidiary Bank) Act, 1959, were made to retire before
attaining tbe age of 58 years on different dates, but upon completing 30
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years of actual service, in exercise of powers under Regulation 19(1) of the
State Bank of Indore (Officers) Service Regulations, 1979. The Writ Peti·
G lions filed by the appellants challenging their retirement on the basis of
the Regulations were dismissed by the High Court.
In the appeals before this Court on behalf of the appellants, It was
contended that their retirement age of 58 ~
was statutorily protected
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under Section 11 (1) of the Act as a 'tenui:e' and since there existed DO
H provision In the Act for retiring an olllcer on completion of 30 )'Ul'I of
208
YASHWANT SINGH v. STA1E BANK
209
service, the Regulation providing so, was an exercise of excessive delega-
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lion of legislative powers, and was violative of Article 14 of the Constitu-
lion, that the Regulations which were the progeny of Section 63(1) of the
Act, could in no event, be inconsistent with the Act and the Rules made
thereunder, that since the date of superannuation was fixed at 58 years for
e!"ployees/officers who could claim protection of Section 11, Regulation 19 B
providing another alternative for effecting retirement upon the completion
or 30 years of service, even though 58 years bad not been attained, subject
to its occuning first, was an onslaught on that statutory protection, that
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on the plain language of Section 11 of the Act, the security of 'tenure'
protected in the first part of the provision was not liable to change as the
word 'tenure' was significantly missing in the later part whereunder c
change is postulated, and therefore, 'tenure' of service could in no event
· be site.red by any change, revision or alteration by the corresponding new
bank, that Regulation 19 could not apply in the case of the appellants as
existing officers, and that when retirement age at 58 was the consistent
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policy for public employment, its curtailment by the alternative of30 years D
service, if happening earlier, was discriminatory and violative of Articles
14 and 16 of the Constitution.
Dismissing the appeals, this Court,
HELD: 1.1. What is protected under Section 11(1) of the State Bank E
or India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959 is the right of the employee of the
corresponding new bank to hold office or service therein on the samt
tenure, at the same remuneration and upon the same terms and condi-
lions and with the same rights and privileges as to bonus, gratuity and
other matters, as he would have held the same on the appointed day, if the
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undertaking of the existing bank had not lieen transferred to and vested,
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in the corresponding new bank. That state of affairs is .to last unless and
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un.til the services of the employee in that bank are terminated (!r until his
removal, or <!ther tenns and conditions of service are revised or altered by
the corresponding new bank under, or in pursuance of any law, or In
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accordance with any provision which, for the time being, governs his
service. [215C-D)
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1.2. The legislature In enacting Section 11(1) of the Act cannot be
atirlbuted the fault of tautology to have used the word •tenureExcerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.