MOHD. SWALEH v. UNION OF INDIA & Ors.

In this appeal, we have heard the learned senior counsel for the appellant Shri Rajinder Sachar and the learned counsel for the Union of India, Ms. Shashi Kiran. B It is true that the appellant who was on deputation in the Central Administrative Tribunal, Jodhpur as Deputy registrar was conferred cer tain additional powers and functions under the orders passed by the Vice Chairman of the Tribunal, as stated above, one under Rule 13 of the C Delegation of Financial Power Rules, 1978 and another under Rule 28{3) of the Central Administrative Tribunal {Procedure) Rules, 1987. The rejec tion of the appellant'.s request for additional remuneration for discharging the duties of the Registrar was, however, based upon the language and terms of Rule 49 of the Fundamental Rules. D Now Delegation of Financial Power Rules, 1978 do not contain any provision for payment of additional remuneration for performing the func tion of a higher post, Similarly, the Central Administrative Tribunal (Pro cedure) Rules, 1987 which permit the Chairman/Vice-chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal to delegate to the Deputy Registrar, any E of the powers and functions of the Registrar, do not also contain any provision for payment of additional remuneration. The only relevant provision in that behalf referred to by counsel on both sides is Rule 49 of the Fundamental Rules, it was in fact this Rule that was referred to by the Principal Bench of the Tribunal at Delhi while rejecting the claim of the appellant for additional remuneration. We shall, therefore, set out the relevant part of Rule 49 of the Fundamental Rules. It reads as follows :- F "F.R.49.-The Central Government may appoint a government ser vant already holding a post in a substantive or officiating capacity, to officiate, as a temporary measure, in one or more of other independent posts at one time under the Government, in such case, his pay is regulated as follows :- (i) where a government servant is formally appointed to hold full charge of the duties of a higher post in the same office as his own and in the same cadre/time of promotion, in addition to his ordinary duties, he shall be allowed the pay admissible to him, if G H MOHD.SWALEHv. U.O.I.[M.JAGANNADHARAO,J.] 303 he is appointed to officiate in the higher post, unless the Com- A petent Authority red~ces his officiatip,g pay ~der Rule 35; but no additional pay shall, however, be allowed for performing the duties of a lower post : (ii) ................................ : ........................................... . (iii) ············································································ (iv) ......... ~ ................................................................. . (v) .................................................... ; ........................ . (vi) ........................................................................... . B c A reading of Fundamental Rule 49 makes it clear that the Central Govern ment can appoint a government servant to "officiate" in another post an{i in such a case where he is formally appointed to hold full charge of the; duties of a higher post in the same office as his own and in the same D cadre/time of promotion · In addition to his ordinary duties • he shall be allowed pay admissible to his ordinary duties · he shall be allowed pay admissible to him, as if he is appointed to officiate in th!f higher post. Under sub-clause (1) of Rule 49, it is, therefore, for the Central Govern ment to appoint a government servant already holding a post to officiate E in another independent post and when he is formally appointed to hold full charge of the duties of the higher post in the same office as his own and in the same Centre/line of promotion (ht!re, the Registrar) only then he shall be allowed the pay admissible to him, as if he was appointed to officiate in the higher post, in the present case, there is no order of the Central Government appointing the appellant in an officiating capacity in F the higher post. Therefore, in terms, Rule 49 of the F.R. is not satisfied. It is, however, argued for the appellant that the order of the Vice chairman of the Jodhpur·Bench of the Tribunal permitting the appellant under Rule 28(3) of the Central Administrative Tribunal (Procedure) G Rules, 19,87 is sufficient for the purpose of Rule 49 of the Fundamental Rules. ": · In order to appreciate this contention, it is necessary to find out whether the Vice-Chairman could, without the sanction of the Central Government, have passed an order conferring the powers and functions of H .. ' . [ I, . 304 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1997) SUPP.1 S.C.R. A the Registrar so as to enable the Deputy Registrar to claim the pay admissible to the post of Registrar. Rule 28(3) reads as follows: "Rule 28(3): In the absence of the Registrar, the Deputy Registrar or any other officer to whom the powers and functions of the Registrar are delegated by the Chairman or Vice-Chairman, as the case may be, may exercise the powers and functions of the Registrar." B Under Rule 28(3), for the purposes of discharging the powers and functions of the Registrar, an order of the Chairman or Vice-chairman, C would no doubt be sufficient. But, in order to claim the pay of the post of the Registrar, an order under rule 28(3) of the aforesaid rult; alone is not, in our opinion, sufficient. The right to claim the pay is squarely governed by Rule 49 of the Fun damental Rules. D We have stated that there is no order of the Central Government passed under Rule 49 in favour of the appellant. The next question is whether the Central Government has delegated the power under Rule 49 to the Chairman/Vice-Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal. If, E however it is established that the powers of the Central Government under Rule 49 are delegated to the Chairman or Vice-Chairman, then, of course, the Deputy Registrar upon whom the powers and functions of the Registrar are conferred, can certainly claim the pay of the Registrar. F We shall, therefore, examine whether the powers of the Central Government under F.R. 49 have been delegated to the Chairman/Vice Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal. Under F.R.6, the Central Government can delegate to any of its officers, subject to any conditions which it may think fit to impose, any power conferred upon it by the Fundamental Rules .except the powers relating to (a) making rules G (b) powers conferred by Rules 6, 9(6)(b), 44, 45A to 45C, 83, 108A, 119, 121 and 127( c) and by the first proviso to clause (1) of Rule 30. It is clear that Rule 49 powers of the Central Government can be delegated. If need be, Appendix 3 to the Fundamental Rules contains a table of various delegations made under F.R.6. Item 20 of this Table does show that the H power of the Central Government under Rule 49 has been delegated to \\ MOHD.SWALEHv. U.0.1.[M.JAGANNADHARAO,J.) 305 "All Heads of Depaltments", but column (5) of the Table, which deals with A the extent of power delegated, imposes certain conditions. It says : "Full power, provided that they have power to appoint government servant permanently to each of the post concerned.". In other words, assuming that the Chairman of the Principal Bench B of the Central Administra~ive Tribunal or the Vice-Chairman of the Benches are "Heads of Department", the powers of the Central Govern ment under Rule 49 are exercisable by them as per the above delegation in Appendix 3 to the F.R., provided that such Heads of Departments have the power to appoint the concerned government servant to the higher post. C In the facts of this case, therefore, if it is established that the Chair man/Vice-Chairman can appoint the Registrar of the Bench at Jodhpur, then when the said Chairman/Vice-Chairman orders that the Deputy Registrar will exercise the powers and functio1;1s of the Registrar, the pay attributable to the post of Registrar can be claimed by the Deputy Registrar. D The next question, therefore, is whether the Chairman/Vice-Chair man are the appointing authorities for the post of Registrar of the Bench of the Tribunal. We shall, therefore, refer to the relevant rules in this behalf. Now, unda the Central Administrative Tribunal (Gr::mp A posts) Recruitment Rules, 1988, the post of the Registrar (Principal Bench) in the scale of Rs. 5900-6700, Registrar (other Benches) in the scale of Rs. 4900-5700, Joint Registrar in the scale of ,Rs. 3700-5000 and Deputy Registrar in the scale of Rs. 3000-4500 arc Group A posts. E F U ndcr the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal Rules), 1965, Rule 4 states that the Civil services under the Union shall be classified as Class A, B, C and D posts. Under Rule 6A the word (group) has to be substituted for the word 'class' wherever the word 'class' occurs. G The appointments to Class I (i.e. Group A) service and posts are to be made by the President of India as per Rule 8 of the C.C.A. Rules. The proviso to Rule 8, however, says that the President may, by a general or special order and subject to such conditions as he may specify in such order, delegate to any other authority the power to make such appoint ments so far class II, III, IV (i.e. group B, C, D) are concerned. Rule 9 H 306 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997] SUPP. l s.c.R., A states that the appointing authorities are specified in the schedule to CCA Rules, 1985. In other words, the power of the President to appoint persons to Group B,C,D posts has been delegated but not the powe~ to appoint to Group A posts. We have stated that the posts of Registrar, Joint Registrar and Deputy Registrar are group A posts. No order of the President of India delegating his authority to the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal, in respect of appointment to the post of Registrar has been brought to our notice, (As shown below, there is now an order of delegation so far as the post of Deputy Registrar is concerned). B c Once it is held that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal are not the appointing authorities for the post of Registrar of a Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal, by virtue of any delegation, it must follow that the condition laid down by the Central D Government while delegating powers under Rule 49 of the Fundamental Rules to the Head of the Department (vide column G) of Appendix, it has not been satisfied. The said condition would have been satisfied if the Chairman or the Vice-Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal had been delegated the power to make appointments to the post of Registrar of a Bench of the Tribunal. If there had been such a delegation E of power, to the Chairman or Vice-Chairman then the latter could confer additional duties and powers attributable to the post of Registrar, to the Deputy Registrar, for purposes of Rule 49 of the F.R. as well and in that event, the pay of the post of th.e Registrar could be paid to the Deputy Registrars entrusted with higher powers and duties of a Registrar. We are, therefore, of the view that though under Rule 88(0) of the Administrative Tribunal (Procedure) Rules. 1987, the Chairman or the Vice-Chairman are authorised to delegate the powers and functions of the Registrar to the Deputy Registrar still in the absence of the power of delegation by the Central Government for the purposes of Rule 49 of the Fundamental Rules, the appellant who as Deputy Registrar exercised the powers and G functions of the Registrar, could not be granted the pay attributable to the F post of the Registrar. In fact, this position has been clarified by letters of the Central Government. The letter dated 5th December, 1985 addressed by the H Department of Personnel Administrative Reforms, Government of India to , MOHD. SWALEHv. U.O.I. [M.JAGANNADHARAO,J.] 307 the Chairman, Central Admini~trative Tribunal would clearly show that the A Group 'A' post in the Tribunal shall be filled by the Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal only after a reference to the department i.e. · Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, for obtaining ap propriate orders. By the letter dated 21st May, 1987 ofthe Government of India in No.A-12018/5/85-CAT, the Central Government has delegated to the Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal the power to make B appointment to the post of Deputy Registrar in the Central Administrative Tribunal on deputation basis subject to the Government's Rules and in structions on the subject. The above two letters, therefore, would make it very clear that the appointments to group 'A' posts (other than Deputy Registrar) could be made by the Chairman, Central Administrative C Tribunal only after a reference thereof to the Central Government. So far as the post of Deputy Registrar among group 'A' posts are concerned, that power of appointment to the post of Deputy Registrar has been delegated to the Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal. For the aforesaid reasons, we are of the view that the condition D mentioned in Appendix 3 to the F.R. wherein the Central Government has delegated powers under Rule 49 to the Heads of the Department namely that the Head of the Department must have been authorised to make appointment to the higher post, is not satisfied in the facts of this case inasmuch as the power to appoint a Registrar has not separately been delegated to the Chairman or Vice, Chairman of the Central Administrative E Tribunal. Hence the additional remuneration cannot be granted as ·claimed. Learned counsel for the appellant made a submission that the prin ciple of quantum merit would apply to. the facts of the case and relied upon · F the decision of the Supreme Court in State of West Bengal v. B.K. Monda/ & Sons, AIR (1962) SC 779. In that case it was held that though the contract for certain works was not executed as per the provision.s of Section 175(3) of the Government of India Act, still compensation could be paid under Section 70 of the Contract Act. In our view, the said decision which G is based on Section 70 of the Contract Act is not applicable to the present situation where the field is governed by specific statutory rules, namely Rule 49 of the Fundamental Rules. We are, therefore, in agreement with the judgment rendered by the Central Administrative Tribunal on the judicial side on 4.5.1995 which had H " . 308 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1997] SUPP. 1 S.C.R. A affirmed the order of the Chairman, Principal Bench, of the Central Administrative Tribunal dated 20.3.1991, passed on the administrative side. The result is rather unfortunate but in view of the rule position set out above, we have no choice but to dismiss this appeal. The appeal is dismissed but in the circumstances there will be no order as to costs. v.s.s. Appeal dismissed. B ' > ,, .